RETURN TO NEWS

City Gets Property for Park & Fire Station in Ross 12/28/2005

Publication: Birmingham News
Author: Dawn

The City of Hoover has received the deeds to 37 acres of undeveloped property in the new Ross Bridge community that will be designated for parks and a fire station.

The Hoover City Council accepted the deeds during its meeting last week, a move that fulfills the requirements of the Ross Bridge annexation agreement, officials said. The land lies west of Ross Bridge Parkway and south of the Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa and six developing neighborhoods that have a total of 500 lots. A landscape architect's rendering of the property shows an environmental education amphitheater, playground and picnic pavilions, as well as a pedestrian tunnel under Ross Bridge Parkway.

The fire station and a 36-space parking lot sit in the center of the property. Mayor Tony Petelos said he likes the ideas, but the rendering is only a conceptual design of what could be done with the property. The city has not made any plans or set a timetable for the park development, he said. Officials also are not ready to proceed with building a fire station at this point, he said.

Ross Bridge, which covers 1,600 acres west of Shades Mountain, is a joint venture of Daniel Corp., USS Real Estate and the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The deeds for the Ross Bridge property became an issue during the summer when council members balked at paying a $6 million bill related to the development.
Councilman Jack Wright said he wanted the city to have deeds in hand for a list of land parcels due the city and its Board of Education, as set aside in the joint development agreement between the city and Ross Bridge developers.

The city later paid the bill after a review of the agreement showed the city was bound to pay the money, which was a grant the city agreed to make as a contribution to the construction of a conference center
.

The developers also are working with school officials regarding property in Ross Bridge. The developers are donating land for an elementary school in the community, and they have agreed to sell the board land for a high school there if the school board decides it wants to put its third high school in Ross Bridge.
E-mail: dkent@bhamnews.com