By Lee Weyhrich
PINSON — The Pinson City Council last week approved of entering into a contract for the construction of the new city park.
Clements Dean Construction will build the park for $1.57 million. J.A. Dawson will be paid $277,850 for equipment. The total includes all alternates for the park project.
The contract process was the final step before work can begin on the project.
This graphic shows the particulars of the park.
file photo
The park will be located near Center Point Parkway between Sweeny Hollow Road and Glen Brook Road. The city council hopes the park will be able to be opened in conjunction with Pinson’s 200th anniversary as a community in 2015. The park still hasn’t been given a name. Suggestions have included Pinson Park, Children’s Memorial Park, Settlers’ Park and Palmer Park.
In other news, the council has been continuing on with its paving projects as well. The Sector 2 paving project in the Aspen Ridge neighborhood was completed last week, and additional paving might be in the future depending on a neighborhood vote.
A probate judge has determined that residents of Aspen Ridge will be able to vote on whether more than 100 acres of land in their area will become part of the city of Pinson. More than 60 percent of that neighborhood has already been annexed into the city, but many of the remaining lots are vacant houses or empty lots. A probate judge determined that the neighborhood met every requirement for annexation by election. The vote will only be open to Aspen Ridge residents, and will take place Sept. 9.
Kermit Johnson Elementary School asked the council to help with the cost of hiring a school nurse. School nurses are granted on a yearly basis to schools that meet certain requirements for health issues by population. The school requested that the city help pay for a full-time nurse. The council voted to pay $3,500 to help finance a nurse for the school, roughly half the cost of a part-time nurse. The hope is that the PTA will also be able to help with funding in some way, Mayor Hoyt Sanders said.
