Summerdale makes 2018 contribution to Elberta High

By Jessica Vaughn / jessica@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 4/12/18

SUMMERDALE – During a 2017 council, Elberta Mayor Jim Hamby approached the Summerdale council concerning monetary help to go towards building new sports fields for the new Elberta High School. …

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Summerdale makes 2018 contribution to Elberta High

Posted

SUMMERDALE – During a 2017 council, Elberta Mayor Jim Hamby approached the Summerdale council concerning monetary help to go towards building new sports fields for the new Elberta High School. The new school held its first classes during the 2017-2018 year, starting out with 9th grade and steadily growing over the next three years into a full high school. Summerdale students are already attending the new school, which is lacking an adequate location allowing students easy access to sports.
“The School Board isn’t helping on anything to do with athletics currently, only school buildings,” said councilwoman Cheryl Stewart. “This is going to the Town of Elberta who have taken up the responsibility to deliver a sports field to their high school.”
The Town of Elberta approached Summerdale council in 2017 requesting assistance with the building of the new fields as they will be beneficial to both Elberta and Summerdale students. The Summerdale council then made a motion to set aside $5,000 of their budget each fiscal year to go towards the new sports fields.
“Elberta has asked us to send them the $5,000 that we budgeted this year,” said Mayor David Wilson. “They’re putting in a new deep water well to irrigate the athletic fields that they’re building currently.”
The money has already been budgeted, and the Summerdale council approved the transfer during their April 9 meeting.

“The citizens of Summerdale have their children going to this new high school, our whole 8th grade class from last year is down there now,” said Stewart. “It’ll only continue to grow as the school builds. This is benefiting our Summerdale students who will be going there.”
The sports field project has been divided into separate phases, and over the course of the next few years the Town of Elberta is hoping to build multiple playing fields for boys’ and girls’ teams as well as restrooms, storage, and extra parking.
“This project is upgrading the high school students’ ability to play sports, and I think that by us budgeting aside money each year, it shows a good relationship between us and Elberta,” said Wilson.
In other news from the April 9 council:

  • The Town of Summerdale amended their zoning ordinance for the definition to include a temporary business or food vendor such as a food cart, mobile food vehicle, or a push cart. The town has had interest from people who have wanted to set up during events, such as the annual 4th of July celebration. The council’s approval to amend the ordinance was unanimous.
  • Since closing their gun range in late 2017, Summerdale has been looking for a new location for their police officers to train. Mayor Wilson stated that the town owned a piece of property on Davis Road that may be utilized as a new gun range. Summerdale Police Chief Jim Davis has spoken with multiple units from other municipalities who are also looking for a gun range for training purposes, such as Orange Beach, Robertsdale, and Foley. The Town of Summerdale council approved to obtain a quote to turn the Davis Road property into a shooting range, including barricades and bullet traps to collect spent ammunition as to not cause a contamination issue. The town approved moving forward on seeking a cost estimate for the project and plans to continue communicating with other municipalities who are also in the need of a training shooting range.