The City of Gulf Shores approved a contract for the design of Waterway Village Plazas, the city's first Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GoMESA) project.

The city will work with WAS Design, which is the group behind the conceptual design used for the grant application. Gulf Shores Assistant City Administrator Lee Jones, who presented the proposal before city council at the Nov. 17 work session meeting, said the plazas will provide a pedestrian pocket park space on both sides of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).

The grant will give $3.6 million to the city for the project. GoMESA funnels money earned from offshores oil and gas production in the Gulf to the four Gulf Producing States (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas) and their coastal communities. The program has been in place since 2006. Alabama's coastal communities, Baldwin and Mobile, receive separate GoMESA disbursements directly from the federal government.

Gulf Shores' $3.6 million grant for this project is part of $22.9 million going to projects across Baldwin County, double what the area received last year, and is the third-largest awarded this year locally of the county's 11. Though Gulf Shores is one of Alabama's coastal cities, this project marks a milestone in funding sources for environmental and quality-of-life enhancements.

"It's not the first time we've gone after a GoMESA grant, but it's the first time we've actually received a grant, and it couldn't have come at a better time as the pedestrian bridge is under construction," Lee said.

Design costs are set to an amount not to exceed $190,000. Design and construction costs will be covered by the GoMESA grant. The project is set to be completed about 18 months after the design contract is awarded.