Andalusia officials start breaking ground to mark the beginning of the construction of the park

Officials from officials from the City of Andalusia and others involved in the design of an upcoming park within the city’s downtown attended Tuesday’s afternoon ceremony to officially begin construction of the park.

The park, which is commonly called Heritage Park during the developmental phases of the project will be situated at the junction between S. Cotton Street and Tisdale Street close to the old depot.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time for this moment to come about and today after several months of planning we’re building our brand new Heritage Park,” Mayor Earl Johnson said.

The city has partnered in partnership with Concordia which is an architecture planning, community, and engagement firm with its headquarters within New Orleans, as well as CDG Engineering. Concordia employed surveys and town council gatherings in Andalusia to get the opinions of over 400 residents prior to designing the park.

“Since the time we began, we’ve secured the financing and have working with ADEM as well as the Corp of Engineers, and the Alabama Historical Commission on the necessary permits, and worked together with CDG, Inc., for the final design,” Johnson said.

The park will comprise the following: a 1.4 acres of lake, a quarter-mile 8-foot wide concrete walkway as well as an outside 12-foot wide multi-purpose asphalt path, an amphitheater which can seat approximately 300 people, and green areas. The city plans to construct a carousel pavilion, and gazebo in the later phases of this development.

“In the days ahead you’ll see city workers working on the dirt before putting pipe into place to create the feature’s water source. We’re extremely excited about this initiative, and we believe it will be beneficial to us to transform our city center,” the mayor added.

The article Andalusia officials begin breaking ground to mark the construction of the park was published first at The Andalusia Star-News.