Daphne’s city council has taken its first firm step toward a long-discussed overhaul of the city’s parks and athletic facilities, voting this week to bring on a project manager even though the full scope and cost of the work remains undecided.
The city solicited proposals in January from five planning and engineering firms interested in expanding and upgrading Daphne’s recreational offerings. Submissions came from Goodwyn Mills and Cawood, Volkert, Hatch Mott MacDonald, Preble-Rish, and a partnership between Lose and Associates and Hutchinson, Moore and Rauch. Rather than pick a single master plan wholesale, the council opted to mix elements from multiple proposals, which variously called for new tennis courts at Lott Park on Main Street, upgraded fields and amenities at the Al Trione Sports Complex on Whispering Pines Road, and improvements at a 123-acre city property on Park Drive.
Mobile-based Volkert was chosen to serve as overall project administrator after securing four of seven council votes, with council members Robin LeJeune, Pat Rudicell, Randy Fry and Joe Davis III in support. The Lose and Associates and Hutchinson, Moore and Rauch partnership will consult on athletic field design, while Hatch Mott MacDonald, which keeps an office in Daphne, was picked unanimously to design the tennis court upgrades at Lott Park.
LeJeune, who said he began pushing for the recreation overhaul back in 2013, called the vote a milestone. He said the council’s next task is figuring out how much money is actually available, since funding will ultimately dictate what gets built and in what order.
The city currently has roughly $8.5 million in bonding capacity tied to lodging tax revenue earmarked for recreation, though LeJeune estimated upgrades at Lott Park and Trione Park alone could cost closer to $10 million, meaning the council will likely need to identify additional funding sources before finalizing any contracts.
Contract terms with Volkert and the other firms still need to be worked out, and no construction timeline has been set.