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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City Council awarded a bid for the demolition of the old Thompson High School campus, authorized an agreement for the sale of the old Alabaster Police Station and authorized an improvement district for the Walker Spring development during a regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Nov. 25.

The Council approved a bid for the demolition to the lowest responsive bidder, Complete Demolition Services, LLC, in an amount not to exceed $821,000.

The old Thompson High School campus is located on the corner of Highway 119 and Thompson Road and currently serves as the Alabaster City Schools Central Office while the school system builds a new office facility on the grounds of the current Thompson High School.

According to City Administrator Brian Binzer, demolition on the facility is set to begin at the start of 2025 and will be carried out in two different phases. Work will begin first with the unoccupied portion of the building with the Thompson Road side of the facility set to be demolished after the ACS Central Office changes locations in the spring.

“We’ll start in January and it’ll take them a few months to get that first phase done,” Binzer said. “And then we’ll seamlessly roll into the second phase sometime in the March, April, spring time period—assuming that the school board is completely moved out at that point.”

During the meeting, the Council also approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an agreement for the sale of the old Alabaster Police Station on U.S. 31 located at 201 First Street N. The purchase price for the property was in the amount of $350,000. According to Binzer, the feedback the city got from the broker indicated that the interested party intends to lease the property.

Additionally, the Council approved a resolution approving a petition to form and incorporate an improvement district in the city in association with the Walker Springs development.

The Walker Springs subdivision is located off of Highway 119 and currently plans to feature 968 homes. As part of the project, the developers are planning a 1 mile roadway that would connect Highway 119 to Smokey Road and would be dedicated to the city.

According to Binzer, the improvement district allows the developers to issue bonds. It will create a quasi-public entity that’s able to go to the bond market, raise bonds and then pay back those bonds. Whenever an interested party buys a home in the subdivision some of those proceeds go back to pay the bond.

“The bond will pay for the road but to pay back the bond, they’re going to pledge every time they sell a house, some funds from those house sales (will go) to pay back the bond, “Binzer said. “And to do all this we had to create an improvement district.”

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

• An ordinance to rezone 2025 Butler Road from B-3 within the State Route 119 Overlay to B-4
• The declaration of various items within the city of Alabaster as surplus
• The opening of a new bank account at Central State Bank to house the proceeds of the GO 2024 bond issuance
• A sponsorship for the 2025 Miss Alabama Teen competition plus lunch for participants and volunteers
• A bid for the Highway 119 and Thompson Road pavement Project to Massey Paving in an amount not to exceed $2,351,641.75
• An agreement between the Alabaster Arts Council and the city relating to CityFest and Alabaster Jubilee events within the city in an amount not to exceed $150,000
• The appointment of Derrick Morrissette to Place 2 of the PBA with a term ending Oct. 1, 2030
• Authorization for the acceptance of a $100,000 grant from Shelby County to assist with the construction of new restrooms at Veterans Park
• The appointment of Rayford Coleman to Place 1, Matt Penhale to Supernumerary 1 and Tracy Coyne to Supernumerary 2 for the Alabaster Zoning Board of Adjustment with terms ending Dec. 1, 2027