Mountain Brook, Alabama
Background
Located adjacent to southeast Birmingham, Mountain Brook, Alabama (pop. 20,500), is an idyllic community ranked by Business Insider as number 2 among its 2015 list of “The 50 Best Suburbs in America.” Incorporated in 1942, the city was the first in Alabama to adopt the council-manager form of local government, under which the mayor and city council appoint a professional manager to oversee the community’s day-to-day operations.
Athletics are an ongoing source of pride for Mountain Brook residents. The Mountain Brook High School (MBHS) tennis, cross-country, football, and other sports teams hold more state championships than any other in Alabama.
The Challenge
By the late 1980s-early 1990s, a spike in the number of school-age children and young people living within Mountain Brook had created the need for additional space and facilities to accommodate the community’s growing recreational programs. With as many as an additional 1,000+ boys and girls registering annually to play baseball and softball alone, space in which to hold practices and games had become a real commodity. Mountain Brook was also committed to providing additional recreational space to ensure the health, safety, and high quality of life for city residents of all ages.
Because the city’s boundaries were almost fixed and all but a tiny percentage of property within the city had already been developed, securing additional property on which to house any new recreational facilities would have been difficult, or at the very least, prohibitively expensive. A viable alternative needed to be considered.
The Solution
To address this challenge, in 1989, the Mountain Brook City Council partnered with the Mountain Brook Board of Education, the Mountain Brook Youth Association, and the Mountain Brook Soccer Association to initiate a 25-year lease agreement to build an athletic complex on the MBHS and Junior High School campuses.
In exchange for an annual $25,000-to-$30,000 payment to the city by the Mountain Brook Board of Education, the local government agreed to maintain all but the baseball and football fields, improve the site, operate and maintain the sewage treatment plant, schedule use of the fields, and establish and collect usage fees. The agreement would automatically renew itself every two years through September 30, 2088.
In 1993, the Mountain Brook mayor and city council appointed Sam Gaston as city manager, and the manager’s office became the driving force behind the city’s sports and recreation project. One of Sam’s first responsibilities was to retain a firm to develop the playing fields and related facilities at each of the schools so that ultimately every area of the city would be in proximity of a well-maintained, attractive recreational area. Sam oversaw retention of the Georgia-based land planning and landscape architectural firm Reece, Hoopes and Fincher to create a five-year plan for the project. He also formed a 15-member steering committee to help drive its implementation.
The project was divided into four phases, ranging from improving the drainage, grading, and irrigation of existing fields to the construction of new tennis courts. The four groups involved shared the costs of the initial phase, while the Mountain Brook Athletics and Mountain Brook Soccer Associations assumed the costs for all athletic site fixtures, such as fencing, seating, goals, and backstops plus construction of the restroom/concession facilities and necessary septic systems. The remaining costs for Phases II through IV of the plan were divided evenly between the Board of Education and the city.
Project Outcomes
Today the Mountain Brook Athletic Complex is the realization of the city’s vision. Located behind the MBHS, the complex includes six baseball/softball fields, three soccer fields, six tennis courts, a children’s playground, a concession stand, and restroom facilities. It stays busy year round with community sporting events organized by Mountain Brook Athletics and Mountain Brook Soccer.
The city’s newest area for local athletics, the Rathmell Sports Park located at the end of East Street, consists of six fields maintained by the Mountain Brook Sports Park Foundation. Its pavilion houses a concession area and restroom facilities, improving the experience of enjoying an afternoon soccer or lacrosse game.
Thanks to the visionary leadership of the City of Mountain Brook, its Board of Education, Youth Association, and Soccer Association, and project oversight by the city manager’s office, the Mountain Brook Community Facilities Project is a shining example of how collaborative partnership between various city factions can result in benefits for the entire community.
Meet the Manager
