Valor Park construction resumes after drainage issues fixed

SPANISH FORT, Ala. (WALA) - Crews are back to work at Spanish Fort’s Valor Park on Battleship Parkway. Work had been delayed because of problems discovered during construction.

Grading issues caused water to pool

After months of delays and discussions over who would fix grading issues at the site, work is now back underway, and city leaders are hopeful the park will open soon.

Spanish Fort broke ground on Valor Park in February and had hoped to open it last month. During construction, city inspectors noticed that because of improper grading, rainwater and water from high tides were pooling and not draining from the site.

Spanish Fort Mayor Brad Bass said the issue was caught during routine inspections.

“We were able to catch it. Some of our team that was there doing site visits on a weekly basis would notice it after just a small shower or even sometimes or even sometimes at high tide,” Bass said.

Sidewalks removed to fix grading

Work was halted while the engineering design firm and contractor met with the city to determine what went wrong and develop a plan to fix it. Some sidewalks on the south side of the two-and-a-half-acre property were torn out to fix the grading and allow water to drain from the property.

Bass said it took multiple meetings to reach a resolution.

“It took several meetings over several weeks with the engineering firm and also the general contractor to make sure that it had been built as designed. We were able to come to an understanding to make sure that it’s taken care of and it’s done, so we’re not coming back six months from now and making big changes or closing the park to have any remediation done at that point,” Bass said.

No tax dollars used for fix

Bass said the three-plus million dollar project is being paid for by a GOMESA grant, money paid to the state from federal offshore oil and gas leases. Contingency money built into the project covers issues like this, so no tax dollars will be used to pay for the fix.

City leaders say they are hopeful the park will open sometime next month.