Photo by Erin Nelson.
Trees line a section of the disc golf course at Inverness Nature Park and Trails in May 2019.
Expanding trails and greenways should be the top priority for Hoover parks and recreation officials, according to public feedback given for a parks and public spaces plan the city is creating.
That was consistently ranked as the biggest need for city parks and recreation offerings, said Mindy Wyatt, a strategic analyst with the city’s Office of Economic and Community Development who is serving as project manager for the plan.
Improving the maintenance and condition of existing parks, updating amenities at existing parks and creating new opportunities for recreation also were seen as important, Wyatt said.
Some recurring suggestions for new amenities and projects included a skate park, more pickleball courts and taking steps to preserve historical sites in places like Bluff Park and the Brock’s Gap area, she said.
The city recently wrapped up the public engagement phase for the parks and public spaces plan, after holding several town hall and focus group meetings and conducting an online survey. More than 770 people attended and gave feedback at the town hall meetings, and 3,542 people took part in the survey, including 2,874 residents and 540 people who live outside Hoover, Wyatt said. The response rate was considered strong for public surveys, she said.
“It speaks to the level of interest from the community for a project like this and the importance of parks and recreation as a whole,” she said.
Survey participants — both residents and visitors — indicated their favorite existing parks in Hoover to visit are the 350-acre Moss Rock Preserve nature park, Aldridge Gardens and Veterans Park. Sixty percent of resident respondents said they had visited the Moss Rock Preserve in the past year, while 57% had visited Aldridge Gardens, 45% had visited Veterans Park, 35% had visited the Hoover Recreation Center, 34% had visited Star Lake, 30% had visited the Explore Splash Pad and Playground and 26% had visited the Bluff Park Community Park.
The Hoover Metropolitan Complex and Finley Center were the top-visited sports facilities, with 78% of residents having been to the Hoover Met Complex in the past year and 63% having been to the Finley Center.
Survey participants said their top existing park amenities were trails, gardens, scenery, playgrounds and community events, and the amenities they would most like to see added or expanded are paved walking loops, play equipment, hiking and unpaved trails, blueway access and fishing.
Their top existing park and recreation programs were rock climbing, running and walking events, playground events, soccer programs and weightlifting, while programs or events they would most like to see added or expanded were markets and festivals, hiking and outdoor clubs, concerts and performances, arts programs and outdoor movie nights.
Photos by Erin Nelson.
The Black Jacket Symphony performs music by Queen during the Concerts from the Car series at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in June 2020. Hoover residents in a survey said they would like to see more concerts in the city.
Trails, greenways and blueways
With a $10,000 contribution from Signature Homes, the city is now conducting a regional trail feasibility study, said Jeremy Vice, a member of the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board. The goal is to create more opportunities for walking, jogging, hiking and biking and to create connections to Hoover’s various communities, other points of interest and trail networks in adjacent communities, Vice said.
The goal is to have the regional trail study done by Thanksgiving and incorporate it into the overall city park and public spaces plan, he said.
Wyatt said Hoover, split between Jefferson and Shelby counties, is uniquely positioned to link other trail networks in the two counties. Plus, having the Cahaba River flow right through the middle of the city adds to the opportunity for blueway and greenway connections, she said.
Skate park
There were more than 750 comments about the need for a skate park in Hoover, Wyatt said. A group called Skate Alabama has been pushing for a skate park to be built in Hoover for about three years. The group two years ago announced it wanted to build a 20,000-square-foot park for skateboarding, inline skating and BMX biking at the Hoover Met Complex, and a year ago the estimated price tag was $800,000 to $1 million.
Former Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said at the time that if the skateboard community could raise the money to build a new skate park, the city would allow it to be built at the Met Complex and would oversee and maintain it.
However, fundraising has been difficult, especially without a financial commitment from the city of Hoover to help with construction, group founder Johnny Grimes said. Many corporations and foundations that help with projects like this require a contribution from the cities where the parks are, he said.
Grimes said the skate park recently built in downtown Birmingham has been a huge success, but there is strong demand for one in Hoover as well, with close to 1,500 people who live in Hoover visiting the Birmingham skate park regularly.
Pickleball
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said the city almost daily receives calls from people wanting more pickleball courts.
The city in August held a ribbon cutting for six pickleball courts at the tennis courts next to Simmons Middle School. When city officials were alerted that the tennis courts needed resurfacing, parks and recreation officials decided to convert some of the courts for pickleball use. Because the courts are used by students at Simmons Middle School as well, the school system agreed to cover one-third of the $67,000 cost, city officials said.
Also in August, construction began for eight new pickleball courts and 45-50 new parking spaces near the beach volleyball area at Veterans Park. The city is spending $900,000 for that project, and Shelby County is chipping in $400,000, for a total of $1.3 million.
The city also has had the Goodwyn Mills & Cawood architectural firm drawing up plans for 12 to 24 new pickleball courts at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex and has received a $500,000 grant through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs for that project, but that project is not yet fully funded, Council President John Lyda said.
Preserving historical sites
The Hoover Historical Society and Friends of Shades Mountain group are proposing that a park be established along Shades Crest Road, consisting of the historic Hale Springs property, former Tip Top Grill property and the historic Lover’s Leap landmark to preserve the bluff, which is a frequent spot for people seeking sunset views.
The Birmingham Historical Society and SB Development, a company affiliated with Signature Homes, also have expressed interest in preserving a 150-year-old historic railbed in the Brock’s Gap area. The Brock’s Gap cut runs through Shades Mountain, Pine Mountain and Chestnut Ridge and was completed in November 1871, making way for the final stretch of railroad that led to the incorporation of Birmingham a month later. It allowed trains to get through the mountains and gave easier access to and from the mineral-rich terrain in central Alabama.
Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher said a couple of years ago he wanted to use the Brock’s Gap cut as a pedestrian pathway to help connect Ross Bridge and the Everlee community to 10 miles of mountain bike trails his company built in Trace Crossings, and eventually to historic coke ovens across the Cahaba River in Helena.
However, the city also wants to build a 4-mile parkway through that area, and some questions remained about the feasibility and potential placement of that road.
More survey results
Survey respondents also indicated the city does a good job of maintaining its parks, running youth sports programs, putting on special events and operating the Hoover Senior Center and therapeutics and athletics programs, Wyatt said. However, respondents said the city could do a better job of marketing existing park amenities, improving accessibility for people with disabilities, improving existing park assets and adding more non-sport outdoor recreation opportunities, such as hiking, walking, mountain biking and kayaking, she said.
The survey results now are being used to help develop a draft long-term and comprehensive parks and public spaces plan, and the goal is to have that plan and the regional trail study completed by Thanksgiving, Wyatt said.
The plan is designed to create a vision to help guide decision making in the city over the next 15 to 20 years regarding recreational programming, parks, public spaces, blueways, greenways and trails.
The full report on public feedback is available at hooveral.org/1036/Future-Hoover.
