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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council approved work on a $1.6 million multi-use trail that will connect Thompson High School, Municipal Park, Thompson Middle School and Warrior Drive during a regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 12.

Development of the multi-use trail will be made possible through the Transportation Alternatives Program which is a federal grant that funds construction and construction inspection for trails, bikes lanes, sidewalks and other means of travel for pedestrians. Funding from the TAP grant supports projects at 80 percent with a 20 percent match on the project from the municipality.

During the meeting, the Council approved a resolution authorizing an agreement with Sain Associates for construction, engineering and inspection services for the Alabaster TAP multi-use trail project in an amount not to exceed $242,594.

The Council also approved a resolution awarding a bid for the TAP trail project to Massey Asphalt Paving, LLC in an amount not to exceed $1,625,170.36. The multi-use path and sidewalk will connect Thompson High School, Municipal park, Thompson Middle School and Warrior Drive.

“Massey Asphalt is the general contractor that will be building the trail (and) they’ll do all of the construction work,” said Fred Hawkins, director of environmental, engineering and building services. “Sain (associates will) be doing the inspection work, so they’re going to be approving all the invoices for the contractor—making sure that all the quantities the contractor bill for were actually put in the ground.”

Sain Associates previously handled the design work for the multi-use trail project. Construction on the trail is scheduled to last six months but the work on the project could be completed earlier.

The TAP grant multi-use trail is part of a larger project by Alabaster to create a series of connected trails throughout the city. The city also plans to later extend the Buck Creek trail from Patriots Park to Veterans Park.

“This is part of a much larger program but it’s going to be a long term phased approach,” Hawkins said.

In other news, the Alabaster City Council approved the following:

• Set a public hearing for Monday, Sept. 9  at 6:30 p.m. at the request of Robert Gregory and Melita M. Conn to rezone property located at 201 Wilderness Lane
• Set a public hearing for Sept. 9 at 6:30 p.m. to rezone a 280 lot subdivision located east of County Road 17 and Butler Road
• Reappointed Bob Hicks to the Personnel Board for the city of Alabaster
• Authorized an agreement with Lower Bros Tennis Courts for surface, nets and posts for three additional pickleball courts at Patriots Park in an amount not to exceed $24,000
• Authorized ClasTran’s local match funding request for the 2025 Fiscal Year to provide transit services of this scope within the Birmingham Metropolitan area, including the city of Alabaster in the amount of $10,200
• Approved employee holiday list for fiscal year 2025
• Awarded a bid for an incident command trail in the amount of $72,614
• Authorized an agreement with GovOS to develop a software-as-a-service solution to make the business license application and renewal process online and cloud based in the amount of $39,833.28 with a yearly recurring fee of $101,044.20
• Authorized a one-time funding agreement for The ARC of Shelby County in the amount of $2,500
• Authorized a one-time funding in the amount of $10,000 to Owen’s House
• Authorized a one-time funding in the amount of $2,500 to the Shelby County Hall of Fame
• A resolution to repeal and replace Resolution 102521-F relating to Alabaster’s neighborhood traffic calming program
• Abatement of weeds at 112 Seams Way
• Memorandum of Understanding for the Alabaster Health Fair