City reworks plans for Bluff Park pavilion

Officials with the city of Hoover continue to revise plans for a new pavilion at the Bluff Park Community Park on Cloudland Drive.

The project has been in the works since at least 2018 but was delayed after bids for the job came in higher than anticipated.

When the city sought bids for pavilion construction in 2019, three companies submitted bids, and the lowest was $467,000 by Construction Services Group, City Clerk Wendy Dickerson said.

The City Council had budgeted $172,912 to demolish the Bluff Park Community Center and build a pavilion. The community center, which had been deemed unsafe due to a deteriorating subfloor, was torn down, but the pavilion has not been built.

Jehad Al-Dakka, who became the city’s chief operations officer in 2021, said an architectural firm (Turner Batson) and a structural engineer this summer have been reviewing the design and layout of the pavilion to try to find a less expensive way to do it.

“The whole design we’re working on is completely different,” Al-Dakka said.

They think they may be able to preserve and use some of the existing slab that was there for the community center, since part of it is in great shape, he said.

The pavilion being planned is roughly 26 feet by 49 feet, but the plan could include some seating that extends outside the pavilion, Al-Dakka said.

The pavilion also will have restrooms and a storage area, but he’s not sure how big the storage area would be yet, he said.

“We are going to move forward with it,” Al-Dakka said. “We’re trying to get the best design first to make it work.”