DAPHNE – After providing a location for events for more than 20 years, what was left of the 7,000-square foot Richard Scardamalia Bayfront Pavilion was two piles of rubble on the shore of Mobile Bay.
The city of Daphne demolished the facility in Bayfront Park earlier in March after considering what to do with the property for more than a year, Mayor Dane Haygood said.
“We’ve been working to improve Bayfront Park and make it more usable to the public as well as Bayfront Drive improvements,” Haygood said. “We’ve been working on that for the last 18 –24 months. We quit taking reservations a year ago.”
Haygood said city officials are looking at new uses for the site.
“The whole point is to take bayfront and make it more usable,” Haygood said. “We’re looking at an amphitheater concept. We may continue that down the road with another building that’s situated in a way to still have views of the waterfront but keep a more open space so people can come use the park and enjoy the waterfront side of it. It’s a work in progress.”
The mayor said flood regulations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency limited what could be done to improve the building. After considering the options, city officials decided that after all reservation obligations were filled, the building would be torn down.
“The decision was made before we started renewing some of our flood insurance to go ahead and have March be the deadline for that,” Haygood said.
The city acquired the property where Bayfront Park is located in 1996. Work began the next year to build the pavilion. The facility was named for Scardamalia, a local photographer, who helped the city acquire the property as a public park, according to city reports.
