By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

COLUMBIANA—Oak Mountain State Park will soon add a playground and an archery range to its numerous attractions thanks to a partnership between the county, OMSP and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, County Manager Alex Dudchock confirmed during a Sept. 8 Shelby County Commission Meeting.

The archery facility will be located on John Findlay Drive and will accommodate all patrons including “wheelchair-bound archers,” Dudchock explained.

According to the agreement between the DCNR and the Shelby County Commission, the DCNR will contributed $34,550 and the county will contributed $25, 000 to the project that will include creation of parking, restroom facilities and the archery range. The finished product will consist of “different levels” and “different targets,” Dudchock said.

“At the end of the project, It will be like no other facility,” Dudchock said. “It will cover every aspect of the sport.”

A project “overdue for a couple of decades,” the playground will be located on Terrace Drive “on the upper lake,” Dudchock explained. It will include playground equipment and a pavilion area with tables.

According to the agreement between the county and the state, the DCNR will purchase the playground equipment and “will provide $15,000 to the Shelby County Commission through one payment towards the cost of the playground equipment assembly and installation…” The county will prepare the site for construction and contributed $25,000 toward “the expenses applicable to the installation” of the project.

The land the playground will be built on is in a “great location,” and is “currently an area that has been graded,” Dudchock said.

Construction on the playground and pavilion project is expected to begin soon, Dudchock said, adding “we’ll start phases of it within weeks.”