Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – One week after borrowing close to $200 million for a 10-year infrastructure plan, the Gulf Shores City Council will discuss spending about $1.6 million to develop plans for school improvements. Item for three contractors will be in the agenda for the March 21 work session meeting.

“We have been working on the 10-year Master Plan for approximately 16 months,” Gulf Shores Superintendent Matt Akin said. “We have experienced steady student growth over the last three years, so we planned to start as soon as possible on the additions and renovations that are outlined in our plan.”

Gulf Shores is considering hiring Volkert for managing projects for a new high school and an eight-classroom wing at the elementary school for $650,000. The council is also discussing hiring Goodwyn Mills and Cawood for $644,400 to develop drawings, cost estimates and recommendations on how to run the high school construction project in phases.

Walcott Adams Verneuille is being considered at a cost of $355,900 to prepare design, construction and bid documents for the eight-room addition to Gulf Shores Elementary. It is planned for east of the under-construction STEAM wing which has six classrooms and two laboratories and has a target completion date of May.

“These professional service contracts are proposed to implement initial phases of the school board approved 10-year Campus and Facilities Master Plan for Gulf Shores City Schools,” agenda documents state.

Akin said the new construction and projects will provide help with immediate needs with room to grow as the city grows.

“The additions will enable us to remove the portable classrooms that we inherited from Baldwin County and provide capacity to accommodate future growth,” Akin said. “Just as important, the new facilities and renovations will provide the engaging learning environments that we believe are necessary for teaching and learning.”

Since Gulf Shores formed an independent school system in 2018 the city has provided about $18.5 million in improvements at all three schools including a new practice gym and entrance lobby for the main gym at the high school. Also included is roof work on all buildings, IT improvements, security cameras linked directly to Gulf Shores Police and resource officers and transportation improvements including separating car lines for the elementary and middle schools.

During the meeting, the council also will discuss:

• A contract for $54,400 for work related to the effects on the engineered beaches from Hurricane Sally in 2020 and Hurricane Nate in 2017. The work will include a geophysical survey with sonar, historic and prehistoric research in the project area, review of those two items by an underwater archeology expert and assessment of impacts and developing a plan to protect any cultural resources.

• A contract with Overstreet & Associates for design work on a project for improvements to the West Sixth Street beach access for $18,900. The city is looking to add an ADA parking space, build an ADA route to the boardwalk, replace the wooden boardwalk, ramp and stairs to improve ADA accessibility and replace the beach shower on the boardwalk. The total costs is expected to be around $200,000 and an Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant will provide $50,000 toward the costs.

• Awarding a bid for the Clubhouse Drive and Regency Road traffic roundabout to Asphalt Services about $545,000. According to agenda documents, Regency Road has become busy with traffic trying to bypass State Route 59 an State Route 180 or Fort Morgan Road. “This roundabout will provide traffic calming as well as make the intersection of Regency Road and Clubhouse Drive safer for motorists and pedestrians,” the agenda states.

• Awarding a bid for miscellaneous sidewalk repairs to Grant Nichols Construction for about $50,270. With this unit price contract Nichols will take care of sidewalk issues throughout the city for one year.

• Extending a tax auditing contract with RiverTree Systems which for the past three years has discovered through audits money owed to the city and during the current contract recovered $26,000.

• Providing no-fee access to the auditorium at the Cultural on Oak Road West to Gulf Shores City Schools. The school system will manage the use of the auditorium and its reservation calendar. The city would have use of the auditorium when not being used for an official school function.

• An assembly permit for the 2022 Hangout Music Festival on May 19-22 which hasn’t been staged since 2019 because of the pandemic.

• An assembly permit for the NCAA Women’s Sand Volleyball national championship May 3-8.

• An assembly permit for the 2022 Good Life Bicycle Ride on May 7.

• An assembly permit for four the USTA Alabama State Tennis Tournaments in 2022 at the George C. Meyer Tennis Center. The group is also requesting permission to have two food trucks at the events.