By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— After a decision by the Pelham City Council at an April 18 meeting, Ball Park Road will officially be renamed Pelham Park Boulevard and will be the site of Pelham Park Middle School and Pelham’s future city center.

“Over the last, I guess a month and half, we’ve been talking about this,” said City Council President Rick Hayes. “(We’ve been) going through this and going through a lot of alternatives, a lot of possibilities related to this…we decided on Pelham Park Boulevard for many different reasons.”

During the initial discussions, Councilmember Maurice Mercer suggested the city brainstorm ideas, such as Opportunity Boulevard, to get the students excited about going to Pelham Park Middle School.

Through multiple discussions with the City Council and Board of Education, Hayes said Pelham Park Boulevard was the best way to encompass the entirety of the site. He also said there were some residents who did not want the name to change at all, so this name balanced all concerns.

“This is a good happy medium and really goes toward what we are trying to accomplish with a city center: An opportunity to really create a special place for our citizens, our students, our seniors and everybody coming together in one spot,” Hayes said.

During discussions, Councilmember Ron Scott brought up an opportunity to rename the road that T’s into Pelham Park Middle School. According to Hayes, the current road has three names over a stretch of about 300 to 400 yards.

In the future, Hayes said it would be an exciting chance to rename the road, focusing on the school and education-related names.

“I like that as a good opportunity for us to focus on something more specific along the lines of the creativity we discussed concerning the school itself,” Hayes said.