DAPHNE — The dedication of a butterfly garden in Gator Alley will be July 16 during the City Council meeting, Daphne Beautification Committee members said Friday.

Robert Colville, the Boy Scout who worked to create the garden — an area with trees, plants and flowers that attract butterflies — will be commended for his hard work, according to Dorothy Morrison, co-chair of the butterfly garden committee.

The garden is located in the Gator Alley section of the Baldwin County Trailblazers’ walking path on the west side of North Main Street. It is situated between the east- and westbound Interstate 10 overpasses.

In other business, the DBC has set aside funds to pave the Gator Alley parking lot and the sidewalk that connects to the boardwalk. The project is expected to be completed by late fall, Morrison said. The surfaces are currently gravel and uneven rock.

“We’d like to eventually add benches, tables and maybe even a swingset for people to sit out there,” Morrison said.

The Daphne Public Works Department, weather pending, was to have a sprinkler system in Gator Alley completed Tuesday, according to horticulturist Marshall Parsons.

The committee wants to eventually plant native trees and bushes, as well as seek an invasive species grant, according to Morrison.

“An invasive species is anything that is not natural to that area; it can be anything from trees, shrubs, grasses or flowers,” Selena Vaughn, a Daphne Beautification Committee member, said. “People plant these because it’s pretty; they have no idea that it would become a problem.”

These species take over and natural species can’t grow, she added.

The committee is currently working with Public Works on an invasive species grant at Village Point Park Preserve, according to Vaughn.

Other business:

•The Beautification Awards Committee at its Aug. 3 meeting will nominate local businesses for an awards presentation. The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the Daphne Civic Center.

•A “Welcome to Daphne” sign is now in place on scenic U.S. Highway 98 traveling northbound from Montrose; another will be placed at the south entry of Daphne on U.S. 98; and a third will be placed north of the intersection of U.S. Highway 90 and Alabama Highway 181.