Fairhope making plans for improvements at clock corner site

By GUY BUSBY, Government Editor, guy@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 4/6/22

FAIRHOPE — Plans for the city site around the clock at the corner of Fairhope Avenue and Section Street could include more trees, public seating and brick pavers, according to proposals being considered by the Fairhope City Council.

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Fairhope making plans for improvements at clock corner site

Posted

FAIRHOPE — Plans for the city site around the clock at the corner of Fairhope Avenue and Section Street could include more trees, public seating and brick pavers, according to proposals being considered by the Fairhope City Council.
The council voted in 2020 to buy the parcel at the northeast corner of the intersection to be used as a public space. A report by Christian Preus Landscape Architecture, the company working with the city on plans for the parcel, said the site does not have enough shade, seating or outdoor character. The report also stated that the pavement "looks dingy."
At a council work session Monday, March 28, Richard Johnson, public works director, said a recommendation for the site should be ready for council consideration by April.
The proposals include enlarging the circle at the corner around the clock as a transitional area near the intersection and adding brick rings to create circular patterns, Johnson said. He said much of the work could be done by city crews.
"I think it would be my recommendation that we plan for the landscaping," Johnson said. "That would not be part of the project. We would just plan and build the planter islands. Then our folks would come back and plant it. It's just more cost effective that way and I think we do that exceptionally well as a city and we don't need to outsource it."

The plan calls for seating areas to be created on the site including a wall where people could sit. Council President Jimmy Conyers said most seating should not be fixed to allow space for events on the parcel.
"In general, I like idea of most of those seats being removable," Conyers said. "I think it gives you more flexibility for what you may want to do in that location depending on what events are there."
"Bricks could be laid at the site and replaced later with engraved pavers purchased by residents," Johnson said.
"We want the ability to design these infield pavers with the ability to be changed out with memorial pavers so that if people want to participate in that program, you have an engraved paver, you pull one out and you put it in," he said.
Johnson said contractors could install the pavers and do some plumbing work to add lines to irrigate trees and plans on the site. Electrical lines would also have to be added for the lights on the city Christmas tree at the site.
After the city bought the parcel, fuel tanks buried at the site when the land was part of a car dealership in the early 20th century had to be dug up and the soil tested for contamination.
Johnson said the site will have to be surveyed again after the excavation.
"We have a good survey of the site, but we need to get some spot elevations," Johnson said. "They probably changed a little bit since we dug up the tanks and put fill material back in as well as an update on the utility locates."
He said no major utility lines, including water and sewer pipes or electrical lines, were found when the tanks were removed. He said the proposed work will not require any digging to be done on the property beyond work to install the pavers.
While negotiations for the property were going on, one proposal for the building next to the site was to build a small hotel. Since then, the developer has canceled those plans. Johnson said the current plan calls for residences on the second floor of the building and commercial space on the ground floor.
Councilman Jack Burrell said that if the ground floor is developed for commercial use, business owners should understand that the outside property is public space.
"It's a public space, so I guess they would have a use of it, but I wouldn't want them to think that they have exclusive use of that," Burrell said.

Fairhope, clock corner