Anniston, AL – On Thursday, July 21st public information officer and Main Street director, Jackson Hodges, presented an update on the various capital projects being undertaken by the City of Anniston. The first project discussed was the McDaniel Avenue Project. He went on to explain that there is a really steep road on McDaniel that leads up to Joy View Heights. What citizens need to know is that the paving began on June 12, and that has been completed. It will be about 30 days for the paving to cure. Once the paving has cured, the city will be able to put friction surfacing on that road. This friction surfacing is going to really improve that road for that community.
The next project is the Fire Training Center. The Anniston Regional Training Center or fire station number three off of McClellan Boulevard, trains many first responders in critical tasks. The project has started and 140 days have been allotted for the completion. Work is moving along and in 140 days the city will have the expanded Fire Training Center.
The next project to update is the Dr. Satcher and St. Michael’s Health Clinic. This project is underway. This will be occurring at the old Glen Addie Community Center. This is going to be a public health clinic with this project there is a contractual agreement for it to be completed in 365 days. That project started in June and 365 days from now is slated to be completed. It’s a very large project with a large scope. It will be completed, but it is underway the old Glen Addie Community Center Community Center.
The next project to talk about will be the West 14th Street project with the Anniston Waterworks and Sewer Board. The sewer board has completed their portion of the project and the county has informed the city that paving should begin around late August or the first portion of September. That project is moving along very well.
The next project is the drainage in West Aniston. There has been some drainage issues and some flooding in the West Anniston community. The city wants citizens to know that they are focused on resolving this issue and it is moving along as the preliminary engineering is continuing. Councilman Roberts and city manager Steven Folks met with constituents at the Wiggins community center in that area to give them an update. As engineering goes on, the city will be able to have an understanding of what needs to be done. Once that is known it can be fitted out to consultants or other resources can be contacted and the work can continue. Drainage is a complicated matter.
There is another drainage issue in Golden Springs. The city wanted citizens to know that the city is well aware of some drainage concerns with the Village at Golden Springs with that big development project going up there. The city is working with consultants in city engineering now to develop a plan to address it. That should go out to bid at the end of 2022 with work looking to begin in spring of 2023. Mr Hodges stated that this is, “A difficult matter, but we asked for everyone’s patience. We’re working hard on it again, drainage whether it be in West Anniston or East Anniston is a complicated problem, and again, a bid for a solution to that issue in Golden springs will be completed by the end of 2022. With work looking to begin in the spring of 23.
The Chief Ladiga Trail is a big project that has been talked about a lot. It is well underway the city performed preliminary field inspections on June 28. The field inspections went very well. The city went out there examining the horizontal and vertical alignments out on the trail. They also went to study some bridges. In the last month bridge inspections have occurred, particularly on the 13th of July, they went out there to look at several crossings and how they would be addressed in the future. The city is working through the 30% phase of the initial plan so they can construct the cost estimates and everything for the 2023 budget year. Mr. Hodges said the city is, “Really excited about this. It will be the longest paved pedestrian path in the entire United States when it is completed.”
The next project is the city’s comprehensive plan. This is a plan that the city has been working on for over a year with constituents from all over the community. The Planning Commission approved the plan last Thursday. They city should hold a press conference in the next coming weeks once the City Council approves their resolution in support of the plan. The plan is available on the city’s website.
The next project is the city market. This will be based at the old Anniston auto building in downtown Aniston. The city is looking to have, not only a permanent home for the farmers market, but a Main Street office and many other things that they are looking to add into this building. The bids for demolition will be going out this week. They have to run three times. Mr. Hodges wanted all to know that, “The city does plan to keep certain aspects of the historic building and pay homage to the history in our downtown area.”
The next couple of projects involve downtown and Jackson Hodges and Karla Eden directly, as well as all Main Street staff. The bids are out for the 11 Noble Street Park. The bid ends on July 29 so if you know anyone that would like to bid on that, please go to www.AnnistonAL.gov/openings to find all the city bids that are out for bid right now. This project will be an entertainment venue complete with a stage. It will have ambient sound playing throughout the day. It can host performances and will have a pavilion. Jackson explained, “it’s basically an entertainment venue, a mini food truck park, and just a park in general. It will have grassy areas for children and families to hang out at and that’s what we want our downtown to be. A friendly family area.
The last project to discuss is the new City Hall. The GSA, General Services Administration, has given the city the building documents, the original building plan for that old federal building, the city needed that to provide to the consultant engineer so there can be an understanding of the layout, the architecture, and what needs to be done there. Once the city and engineers know what needs to be done this project can go out to bid and the city can get all the renovations and alterations done to the building that are needed to move in and make it the official new city hall in downtown Anniston.
The city plans on doing these updates every couple of weeks or at least once a month to keep the citizens updated on how their resources and revenues are being used throughout the city of Aniston. If you have any questions as always, you can reach the PIO by calling or texting at 256-846-2044.
