DAPHNE, Ala.—City site inspector Ashley Campbell Thursday presented a maintenance project for Jubilee Square Shopping Center to the city council at its work session.

Campbell—in coordination with Patty Hurley of Alabama Department of Environmental Management—is working on applying for a grant, with the city’s aid, to match funds, to construct landscaping improvements in the shopping center.

The project would incorporate: water infiltration, stonage, evaporation and detention techniques to improve stormwater runoff in the area.

“What we would do is retrofit Jubilee Square,” Campbell said. “This area definitely needs improvements.”

The $1.2 million project would focus on a selection of sites around the shopping center that need maintenance.

The first site is the Boater’s World parking lot, which would receive new vegetation to curb stormwater runoff. There are currently islands in the parking lot that do not restrict enough water flow from heavy rains.

The second site—just outside of the former Goody’s—would receive bioretention areas, similar to the first site.

The third site, in front of Home Depot, would see modifications to already existing islands in the parking lot.

“Basically, we’re taking out 40 parking areas,” Campbell said, referring to the project’s transformation of certain parking spaces into green spaces.

The fourth site is behind Hobby Lobby and would include cutting slits in the curbs to allow water to flow into the parking lot islands instead of out into the watershed’s creeks.

The project also involves educational opportunities including informative kiosks and demonstration projects.

“We’d just like to know which direction ya’ll want us to move in,” Campbell said.

Councilman August Palumbo raised concerns about planting tall trees in a parking lot and how they might affect drivers’ blind spots.

“I just think that would be a concern—of tall foliage,” Palumbo said.

He then questioned the importance of the project, saying “We have to determine the needs of the city and the wants. My question is, how much of this is a need?”

Campbell replied that the watershed is in such a state that these improvements would become necessary eventually and that more harm could be done by waiting.

Implementing this program now could prevent future sedimentation loads from building up in area creeks.

Councilman Ron Scott sounded off in favor of the project.

“Anything we can do to give the area a facelift would be good,” he said.

In other business,

•The council discussed long-term leases at the Civic Center, regarding the Church of His Presence’s continued use of the facility.

The council has been considering placing a moratorium on renting out the Civic Center, thereby limiting the duration of a possible tenant.

Attorney David Vaughn, speaking on behalf of the church, said that if a moratorium on renting the center is passed, then a hardship would be placed on the church.

The Church of His Presence—which has rented the facility almost every Sunday since 2006—has paid approximately $100,000 in rental fees.

“We would just encourage the city to consider the impact,” Vaughn said, adding that church membership has risen to almost 700 and that some come from as far as Biloxi, Miss., and Fort Walton Beach, Fla., to attend services.

Vaughn noted that often families will eat at local restaurants and shop at city retailers after attending services, bringing in even more money to the city.

Council President John Lake said that the issue is with possible future scheduling conflicts from allowing the church to rent the facility long-term.

Palumbo said he is against the monopolization of the center by one organization.

“This is a ‘civic’ center,” he said. “It’s not a religious center. It’s a multifunctional facility. I have a problem with the monopolization whether it’s a church or any other organization.”

A church spokesman said the group has recently purchased 37 1/2 acres of land but is waiting on a loan to begin construction.

Mayor Fred Small, asked how often the use of the Civic Center is requested by groups for Sundays, said “Sundays are not a popular day to rent the civic center.”

Scott expressed the need for the city to collect the revenue from the church’s continued presence.

“I personally think we need the revenue more than we need the policy,” he said.

Palumbo argued that the Civic Center should not be run as a profit-maker for the city.

“That’s not what it’s designed to be,” he said.