City, Mountain Brook Schools, continue improvements at youth athletic facilities
City officials, including Mayor Stewart Welch III, have stressed the importance of improving youth athletic facilities in Mountain Brook, including the athletic complex at Mountain Brook High School.
The city of Mountain Brook and Mountain Brook Schools are now spending more than $5 million on a series of capital projects to make needed improvements.
The work will likely continue until next summer.
Upgrading existing facilities is important because the city lacks the space to build new ones.
“Mountain Brook is a landlocked city, and finding contiguous land suitable for fields has been an exercise in futility,” Welch said recently in Village Living.
The city worked closely with stakeholders in Mountain Brook Athletics (MBA) to develop a master plan that includes upgrading some playing fields with artificial turf, Welch said.
“A major problem in years past has been that when it rained, our fields became unplayable for days at a time, causing cancellations and resulting in rescheduling nightmares for both games and practices,” he said.
ATHLETIC COMPLEX
Major improvements are being made to the complex in phases, with Morris-Shea Bridge Co. doing much of the work at the site.
The installation of artificial turf on fields 3, 4, 5 and 6, as well as the varsity softball field, was completed in early October, said Shanda Williams, the city’s parks and recreation superintendent.
This allowed MBA to host “fall ball,” she said.
There were improvements to the dugouts, the scoreboards were converted to wireless controllers and the bulky old commissioners’ booths were torn out and replaced with semi-portable score tables.
After fall ball, new lighting will be added, as well as new batting cages behind Field No. 3 and a playground between Field No. 3 and Field No. 4, Williams said.
The foundation for the playground will be laid first, with the installation of the playground likely happening in the summer, she said.
One improvement at the facility is the addition of a new access road and a retaining wall. The retaining wall is about 95% complete and will be finished right after fall ball, Williams said.
“This wall is not only going to allow people an easy way around the fields, it will provide a nice observation platform from the outfield,” she said.
The plan at the athletic complex also includes new concession facilities and restrooms.
There will be new paving, including the areas between the fields, “so mud doesn’t run onto the fields and kids do not track in on the fields unintentionally,” Williams said.
Field No. 1 will be rebuilt, including an artificial surface, new lighting, new bleachers and a new restroom.
That project — valued at about $2 million — must be put out for bid and is being planned for next summer, Williams said.
The city will have invested about $3 million in the complex by the time it’s complete, Williams said, not counting donations of time and material made to the project by Morris-Shea.
CHEROKEE BEND ELEMENTARY FIELD
There will also be major improvements at Cherokee Bend Elementary Field, such as all-new lighting, new paving and new back-stops and restrooms. The field will remain a natural-grass field. This project will cost about $800,000, Williams said.
It will be bid out this spring and work will be done next summer.
MOUNTAIN BROOK ELEMENTARY FIELD
The city will add LED lights to this field, though it hopes to keep the existing light poles, Williams said. “We are hoping this is less than $150,000,” said Williams, who notes that state Sen. Dan Roberts has donated about $53,000 towards this project.