Altadena Valley Park
- This article is about the Vestavia Hills city park. For the park maintained by Altadena Valley Presbyterian Church, see Altadena Park.
Altadena Valley Park is a 66-acre public park owned by the City of Vestavia Hills on the site of the former Altadena Valley Country Club, which was donated to the city by Keith Development Company and annexed in 2015.
At the time the golf course was acquired, it was presumed that the future park would include youth athletic fields to meet increased demand. Goodwin Mills & Cawood and HNP Landscape Architecture prepared master plans showing two soccer fields, two football fields and two baseball diamonds on the southwestern half of the park, and extensive paved parking lots. Representatives of the Cahaba River Society cautioned that using fill to raise the site would worsen conditions downriver. The difficulties of building on the flood plain combined with neighbors' concerns about lights, sound, and traffic led officials to plan for entire park to be used for passive recreation.
The city gave the undeveloped park its name and adopted usage regulations in June 2020, notably barring motorized vehicles to limit its injury liability. Later that year the city accepted another 12-acre parcel along Acton Road which they anticipated ceding to Jefferson County per potential widening of the road.
The city approved contracts for design plans for improvements to the park in March 2022. Bids for the first phase of construction are expected to be solicited in September 2023.
Plans for the passive park include utilizing the former golf course's cart paths as walking trails, modifying the landscape with improved drainage, strategically-planted wildflower "masses", and a disc golf course. Parking areas, rest shelters and a playground are to be constructed off of Lakeland Trail, which runs across the earth dam impounding Altadena Lake. Below the large dam, a smaller pond would serve as a park feature, with its outlet flowing into the Cahaba River along the south edge of the park. A second phase of future development is set to include a BMX bump track, an archery range, and a canoe launch at the river.
References
- Cromwell, Sydney (March 12, 2015) "City making plans for new park at Altadena Valley Country Club." Vestavia Voice
- Cromwell, Sydney (August 6, 2015) "Planning & Zoning Commission to consider Altadena park plans." Vestavia Voice
- Cromwell, Sydney (August 31, 2015) "The road to Altadena." Vestavia Voice
- Anderson, Jon (September 28, 2015) "Vestavia Hills annexes, rezones Altadena Valley Country Club property." Vestavia Voice
- Embry, Neal (June 9, 2020) "Regulations passed for Altadena Valley Park." Vestavia Voice
- Embry, Neal (January 25, 2022) "Altadena Valley Park work to begin with “low-hanging fruit”." Vestavia Voice
External links
- Altadena Valley Park at vhparksandrec.com