LEARNING AND LITERATURE

Chelsea’s schools and public library play large roles in the landscape of learning in the community.

The city’s five schools – Chelsea High School, Chelsea Middle School, Chelsea Park Elementary School, Forest Oaks Elementary School and Mt Laurel Elementary School – are in the Shelby County School District and provide education to children in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The city has made about $2.5 million in donations directly and indirectly to the Shelby County Board of Education for the schools in Chelsea, Niven said.

The Chelsea Public Library provides services to residents beyond the walls of the Crane House, a nearly 100-year-old structure that became the library’s new home in 2011.

In addition to thousands of books lining its shelves, the library also offers cardholders access to electronic books, magazines and other educational materials.

The Chelsea Public Library logged a record-breaking year for circulation in 2015. Total circulation for the 2015 fiscal year was 64,282 items, which was 8,480 more than the previous year.

The library offers weekly programming for children and adults, a summer reading program for children and multiple opportunities for families to participate in charity projects.

Children involved in last year’s summer reading program held a food drive and collected items for the Shelby Humane Society. Adults knitted or collected beanies for premature babies at UAB Hospital and the homeless in Birmingham.

BUSINESS, HEALTHCARE AND CAPITAL PROJECTS

Numerous businesses, commercial and privately owned, line U.S. 280 in Chelsea, thanks in large part to the installation of a waterline along the highway.

Not long after the city’s incorporation in 1996, the council decided to borrow $5 million, $3 million of which would go toward the waterline installation. The other $2 million funded the construction of the new city hall.

Restaurants, grocery stores, fuel stations, banks, retail stores, novelty shops and more dot Chelsea’s landscape and produce critical revenue for the city and its people.

The city completed and opened its new community center, a 30,000-square-foot facility off Shelby County 47, in late October.

The more-than $3 million facility includes a gymnasium, second-floor walking track, senior wing, exercise room, meeting and event rooms and outdoor recreation areas.

Another capital project under construction is the Chelsea Sports Complex off Shelby County 11.

Situated on more than 100 acres of the city’s land, the complex will feature eight baseball fields, a football field, a soccer field, six competitive tennis courts, a 5-acre lake, walking trails and parking.

The project is estimated to cost roughly $8 million. Completion of the first phase, including three baseball fields, a concession stand and parking lot, is tentatively set for this spring.

Regarding healthcare, Chelsea’s residents now have access to a variety of nearby options.

Grandview Medical Center opened in October 2015. Formerly known as Trinity Medical Center, the hospital moved from a facility on Montclair Road to a new campus on U.S. 280.

St. Vincent’s One Nineteen, a facility offering physical therapy, fitness and spa services, expanded its campus to include an outpatient surgery center.

Brookwood Medical Center opened a freestanding emergency department at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Alabama 119 in early February.

Multiple pediatric and physical therapy clinics have opened in Chelsea in the last few years, too.

Medical care for the city’s residents is no longer a lengthy ride away.