By JESSA PEASE / Staff Reporter

PELHAM— The Pelham City Council accepted a bid for $292,101.13 from Dunn Construction Company for the widening and road improvement project to the I-65 northbound entrance ramp at Highway 52.

This resolution included an agreement with Gonzalez-Strength and Associates, Inc.  for the construction engineering and inspection services associated with the project at an hourly rate not to exceed $25,000.

The entrance ramp is located at County Road 52 and the Huntley Parkway Intersection. The project would include an additional ramp lane going northbound off County Road 52 and improvements to the intersection itself.

“This project, unfortunately, came back higher than estimated, but still, the way it’s worked out with the developers, everyone was in agreement to move forward with this,” said council president Rick Hayes. “We are having to work out the paperwork with the developers, we’re hoping to get this done in the next day or two.”

Director of public works Eddy Jowers said that construction should start within 10 days of the city completing the paperwork, and he foresees the project taking less than a month to complete.

“One of the main objectives and the reason we have been moving so quickly on this, quicker than some people thought we should at times, was because we realized we have a serious issue to address as far as the timing goes,” Hayes said. “Every year when school starts, the intersection at Highway 52 and I-65 becomes a bit of a problem.”

This agreement would be a unit-based contract, according to Jowers, meaning the city would not be charged for any products not utilized in construction. Hayes said he hopes to have the project completed by the time or before school starts.

Also at the meeting, Chris Eckroate with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood gave the council an update on the Bearden Road Drainage Study. The organization was asked to look into solutions for flooding along the Living Hope Baptist Church and Oak Mountain Estates.

Eckroate said they created a model that went all the way to Pelham High School and included Cedar Cove subdivision. He said all those properties were taken into consideration in their recommendation to the council.

“Our primary goal is to look at issues on the Living Hope Baptist side, the west side, of Bearden Road,” Eckroate said. “We identified a couple places and a couple things we could do to change out there that might help with the flooding that is occurring.”

He said Pelham High School made improvements to its pond in order to redirect the water that was bypassing it. Eckroate said those changes have been made and the pond is receiving more water.

The cross drain pipe under Bearden Road is currently set high, which causes flooding in some of the properties in Cedar Cove. Eckroate said his company determined that a retention pond needs to be excavated in the Living Hope Baptist Church field, and a pipe needs to run down Bearden Road into the Bishop Creek.

 

“What that would do is lower the water surface elevations that these properties are currently seeing,” Eckroate said. “It would also have water flowing out of that pond down to Bishop Creek and not into Oak Mountain Estates causing any downstream flooding issues there.”

He estimated the project to cost about $660,000. About $380,000 of that would go toward the additional pipe and about $276,000 would go toward the pond excavation. He said he is also looking into grants to help out with the cost.

The city council

• Affirmed an agreement with Schindler Elevator Corporation for the purchase and installation of one Holeless Hydraulic Elevator for the sum of $45,000. The elevator will be installed in the Pelham Water Administration Building.
• Rejected all the sealed proposals for document image retrieval solutions. The council chose to reject all the proposals because of inconsistencies in the pricing structures in the proposals.
• Rejected all the bids for the network switches upgrade because of the incomplete responses and related variances in the bids.
• Approved a special use permit for AT&T for modifications to a wireless communication tower.
• Approved ABC licenses for Taqueria Garbaldis Mexican Restaurant and Owens Bar and Grill.
• Announced that Pelham Palooza will be July 17-18 at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena.
• Announced that Ballantrae Golf Club will host their monthly family dinner on Tuesday, July 21 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
• Announced that the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham will host a public involvement meeting to obtain public comments regarding future transportation plans and air quality conformity on July 15 from noon-2 p.m.