City Council Roundup: A.G. Gaston Motel plans, Pratt City projects
The Birmingham City Council took another step in the planned restoration of the former A.G. Gaston Motel downtown, a historic site from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, at its regular meeting for Tuesday, Sept. 18.
Members passed an ordinance authorizing Mayor Randall Woodfin to execute amendments to ground lease and funding agreements between the city and the Historical Preservation Authority of the city of Birmingham to redefine the project and to make other modifications.
The modifications are to be “consistent with the recommendations for preservation, restoration and redevelopment” of the site as guided by the proclamation by President Barack Obama in January 2017 that established the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, according to the text of the resolution.
Councilors did not discuss the specifics of the item during the meeting.
This was an item of permanent operation receiving its first reading, so the council first voted to give unanimous consent to take up the item, then voted to pass it.
The motel is located at 1510 Fifth Avenue North and was built in 1954 by legendary African-American entrepreneur A. G. Gaston to provide quality service to black visitors of the city during segregation, according to bhamwiki.com.
The facility was also a major meeting point for many southern civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, during the peak of the movement in Birmingham.
In 2015, the city of Birmingham allocated $10 million to the restoration of the facility, but the project has progressed slowly.
CONSENT AGENDA
Members accepted a lump sum bid from Stone Building in Birmingham in the amount of $6,492,000 for the One Pratt Park Development—Site Improvements Package-Rebid. One Pratt Park is a planned park and community center in Pratt City, which is still seeking to rebuild and recover from the devastating tornadoes of April 2011.
The council also appropriated almost $7,717,000 to pay for the project, and appropriated almost $1,154,000 for tornado safe rooms in Pratt City.
The money comes from a change to the city’s fiscal year 2019 grants fund budget.
The city amended a Community Development, Disaster Recovery Grant, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to transfer the money for the park and safe rooms from some multi-family housing and street improvements in Pratt City. The amendment is consistent with HUD guidelines, according to the text of the resolution.
The $7.7 million for the park also includes money to pay for some consulting services on the project over the last couple of years, according to a council staffer.
The council also:
- Passed an ordinance to amend the city’s capital fund budget for fiscal year 2019 to transfer $120,000 from animal control and appropriate $96,000 to the Bus Rapid Transit initiative, $10,000 to The Johnson Group and $14,000 to the Community Food Bank.
- Voted to amend the fiscal year 2019 capital fund budget to transfer about $251,000 from a expansion of Flow Dynamics to the clearing of the former site of Daniel Payne College.
- Voted to accept a lump sum bid for $49,721 from J. A. Dawson & Company Inc. in Pelham for the expansion of the playground at Bessie Estell Park.
- Voted to accepting a lump sum bid for $432,690 from Sherrod Construction Company in Vestavia to renovate Wylam Park.