Commission hears from the Alabama Scenic River Trail during meeting
The Shelby County Commission today heard about a potential partnership with the Alabama Scenic River Trail. During the county’s first June meeting, Fred Couch with Alabama Scenic River Trail, a national recreation trail that includes camp sites along multiple Alabama rivers, spoke to the commission about establishing camp sites in Shelby County.
“I’m not here to ask you for money,” Couch said. “I’m here to bring you money.”
Adding these camp sites, which can be placed on county or private property and can be either free or fee-based camp sites, helps bring individuals into the area, Couch said.
“We don’t encourage trespassing, so we go around the state and try to ask people if they’ll allow camping on their property,” he said, adding that they were asking the commission to pass a resolution stating they support the project.
“We have 122 camp sites … and in the 10 years we’ve had these, we haven’t had one complaint,” Couch said.
There are 52 miles in Shelby County along the Coosa River that do not have any camp sites, Couch said, and he has spoken with County Manager Alex Dudchock about getting the county’s support. After Couch’s presentation, Commissioner Lindsey Allison said she hopes Dudchock will work with the Alabama Scenic River Trail.
“I’m very familiar with this. I’ve got a place on Lake Mitchell, and over the years I’ve watched this, and it’s very interesting,” she said, adding that she has seen increased traffic along the river.
County staff is looking into what administrative changes would need to be made in order to allow camp sites on county land, Dudchock said.
“We realize that we have several locations that would have significant traffic through this initiative,” Dudchock said.
Changes could include modifying park land hours of operation and protocol with caretakers for the spots, Dudchock said, and they want to think through those changes first.
“We’re going to be in. It’s just we can’t immediately put the sign up … and not have the protocol ready,” he said.
Also at the meeting:
- The commission awarded a bid for a new roof on the Oak Mountain State Park equestrian barn. The bid was awarded to Wayne Davis Construction in the amount of $24,800 base bid and $1,800 for each additional 12-foot section. The county does not have funding in this project, but is an administrator of the project, Dudchock said.
- The commission approved bids for paper products, Telephony Equipment for IT Services, printed items and laundry supplies for the juvenile detention center.
- The commission approved a resolution to record property tax insolvents, errors in assessment and litigations for the 2016 tax year.
- County Services Manager Reggie Holloway gave an update on this year’s senior picnic, which attracted 1,075 RSVPs and more than 800 guests, despite rainy weather that led to a change in plans the day before the event.
- Dudchock gave updates on projects throughout the county, including a bid for a 12-unit airport hangar. The apparent low bidder, Wayne Davis Construction, came in at just under $670,000, and the second low bidder, JF Morgan General Constractor, came in at more than $1.27 million. After this unit goes in, Dudchock said there will be a lull in construction of mass hangers. While some single hangars might be built, larger hangers will not be built for several years.