Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle
David Calhoun, assistant superintendent of operations for the Shelby County Board of Education, speaks to the audience during the public hearing on the Chelsea High School master plan on Jan. 24, 2023.
At the Jan. 24 public meeting on the proposed Chelsea High School master plan, Mayor Tony Picklesimer told the audience in attendance and those watching online that he wanted feedback from the community and for them to have the opportunity to ask questions regarding the plan.
“Tonight is about teamwork,” Picklesimer said. “To be a shared vision and shared possibility. It will require many different groups of people coming together to make it [the master plan] happen. Thank you to the groups that have shown enough interest in this venture to come tonight.”
All five of the Chelsea council members were in attendance, along with almost the entire Westover City Council and Westover Mayor Larry Riggins. Also in attendance were Shelby County schools Superintendent Lewis Brooks, Assistant Superintendent of Operations David Calhoun and newly appointed board member Amber Polk.
Brooks shared that the school district is working with the city in regard to Chelsea High School and said he was excited about the possibility of things that can take place at the school.
Calhoun said he met with city leadership in the fall to discuss the potential at the school campus and worked to identify future projects. Those included a possible classroom addition, cafeteria expansion, reworking the front administration entrance and giving the school a dedicated front entrance.
“A lot has been said about the capacity of the building,” Calhoun said. “To set the record straight, it's equipped to hold and accommodate 1,500 students. As this community grows, we have the ability to add 30 new classrooms on two levels.”
Other items listed on the master plan include a covered batting pavilion for the softball team, an expansion of the visitors' locker room, fieldhouse addition, a new home side for the bleachers at the football field with a new press box, a concession stand with restrooms and additional parking.
The largest expense would be a new $19.2 million 48,000-square-foot competition gymnasium. Rick Lathan of Lathan and Associates gave a digital tour of the building that would include a multipurpose room, dressing room spaces, greater seating capacity, concession area and more. The common areas would be used by all students, along with the banquet and meeting spaces.
“It's a gym, but it's a lot more than a gym,” Latham said. “There are ways to cut costs, and that’s simply to cut square footage.”
Lathan said his firm has been doing work for the Shelby County Board of Education for 32 years.
Brooks shared other upgrades that are already planned for the high school that will be paid for by the Shelby County Board of Education, including putting in new bleachers in the current gym at the end of this school year, refinishing the gym floor and painting new striping and logos.
The Shelby County Board of Education would pay for classroom additions and the cafeteria expansion, and the city of Chelsea would pay for the new home seating press box, concession area and fieldhouse addition. The competition gymnasium would be a partnership between the cities of Chelsea and Westover, Shelby County Board of Education and Shelby County Commission, with the city of Chelsea taking the largest portion.
Picklesimer shared that the city of Chelsea’s 1-cent sales tax currently generates around $2.5 million per year. However, the tax is scheduled to sunset in October 2025, so it would be up to the council to extend it.
Both the city of Chelsea and the city of Westover collect an extra 1-cent sales tax designated to be used for only education and projects that are specific to the four area schools that serve those communities. Proceeds from this tax would have to be leveraged to accomplish this goal.
“Since the construction of Chelsea High School in 1992, in my opinion, Chelsea has never had the best of anything,” Picklseimer said. “With this competition gym and new home stadium with this master plan, we would have not only the best in Shelby County, but one of the premier facilities in the state of Alabama. This is something I feel like our kids deserve, something our community could be proud of and I think it would be a game changer for the city.”
Lathan said if the plan is approved, construction could take about 15 months and potentially could be complete by fall 2024.
“There are a lot of neat things we can do if we manage our money wisely,” Picklesimer said. “Everything is possible in my opinion. There’s a multitude of things that can happen if we can get together and make this work.”
Picklesimer released a statement on Jan. 30 clarifying that the master plan was completed by the Shelby County Board of Education at the request of members of the Chelsea City Council. The request was not made by the mayor's office, he said.
