By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

PELHAM—Pelham City Schools will soon launch a $310,000 landscaping project at Pelham High School to improve the appearance of the facility.

Although the project costs a “considerable amount of money,” Pelham Board of Education President Rick Rhoades said he hoped the landscaping would create a better first impression and visual appearance of the high school.

“This is a special place and great things go on here,” Rhoades said.

The BOE moved to bid phase one of the project during an Aug. 25 meeting. Designed by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood Inc., the first phase of the project encompasses the portion of the PHS property along Bearden Road.

“The hill that we’re dealing with is pretty challenging,” Rhoades said. “It’s one of the most visible parts (of the city).”

The high school currently sits atop a terraced hill planted with grass. However, due to the slope of the hill, the landscape is very hard to maintain.

The landscape plan will do away with most of the grass, replacing it with self-mulching pine trees, shrubs and deciduous trees to add color in the spring and fall, representatives with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood explained during the BOE meeting. There will also be a stone wall at the base of the hill with a PHS sign.

“From a maintenance standpoint, it’s going to be much better,” PCS Superintendent Dr. Scott Coefield said.

The plan also addresses storm water erosion problems at the base of the hill along Bearden Road, adding a sod-covered pipe drainage system to carry water to a detention pond.

Rhoades said the project should begin in mid-October. The entire landscape should be in place within 60-days of the project’s start date, Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood representatives confirmed, setting Christmastime as a projected completion date.

“We want there to be a noticeable difference there,” Rhoades said, adding the landscaping will give PHS a “first rate” exterior to match the school’s education, faculty and programs. “(We hope) the first impression that people get of all of our schools is a really good one.”