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By DONNAMY STEELE / Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – Although uncertainty still lingers into the new year, 2021 presents hope and new opportunity for the city of Alabaster.

Mayor Scott Brakefield gives an inside scoop into the plans that the city has in the upcoming months, ranging from economic development goals to renovations.

Brakefield said the biggest goal of 2021 is to keep a close eye on how local businesses have been, and will be, affected by COVID-19.

“So the biggest goal for 2021 is to continue monitoring the economic impact that COVID has on our municipality and continue to budget conservatively as we get a more definitive handle on how the virus has impacted our local businesses and things like that,” Brakefield said. “That’s first and foremost of what we want to continue to monitor. Secondly, we want to continue progress on Highway 119. That’s a major project that will impact residents the most. We expect them to do more in the spring and more construction in the middle of the year next year, and we hope to stay on track and see progress.”

Veterans Park, Abby Wooley Park and the Alabaster Police Station are also large projects that the community can look forward to, Brakefield said.

Each project is currently being worked on and progress should be visible to the community soon.

“The expansion of the park should be completed soon, and there is significant progress on the police station, and these are projects we want to continue to progress on,” Brakefield said. “We are doing an expansion of Veterans Park and a complete remodel of Abby Wooley. We’re bringing in new fields, parking, extended rails, and for Abby Wooley we are providing new bathrooms, walking trails, and are completely redoing the basketball court and more.”

Brakefield said the big missing puzzle piece of his 2021 plans are due to the uncertainty that follows local businesses.

However, he is confident that residents will continue to support local businesses throughout the new year.

“Just hopefully we can continue to move forward despite the challenges COVID has presented,” Brakefield said. “Our residents have done a great job supporting local businesses by shopping local, and that’s the big missing piece of the puzzle – figuring out how COVID will affect our businesses.”