Plans for a new event pavilion at Graham Creek Nature Preserve are moving forward after Foley City Council voted to purchase a prefabricated metal structure and seek bids for its installation.

The 40-by-60-foot building will sit on Philomene Holmes Boulevard, becoming the fourth pavilion at the preserve. Leslie Gahagan, Foley's sustainability and natural resources director, said the pavilion balances functionality with an attractive design.

"It's got an architectural type roof, and it's got a teak decking underneath," Gahagan said. "It's still a very beautiful structure. We just changed the roofline so it wasn't custom."

Mayor Ralph Hellmich noted that city staff worked hard to bring the cost of the structure in line with the budget after initial estimates came in higher than expected.

"They worked and did more research and found something that meets the same guidelines, and cut it down to where it meets the budget," Hellmich said. "They have worked real diligently together to get this within budget. In this day and time when you're talking about steel buildings of any kind, that's that's a challenge. They did a good job with that."

Graham Creek Nature Preserve, located on Wolf Bay Drive in southeast Foley, spans approximately 650 acres, making it the largest municipal nature preserve in Alabama. The park offers a canoe-kayak launch, kayak rentals, an interpretive nature center, hiking trails, a play garden, outdoor classrooms, three disc golf courses, an archery range, picnic areas and a boardwalk.