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Sydney Cromwell
Public Services Director Berkley Squires speaks at the ribbon-cutting for West Homewood Park's new athletic fields and gymnasium.
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Sydney Cromwell
Mayor Scott McBrayer speaks at the ribbon-cutting for West Homewood Park's new athletic fields and gymnasium.
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Sydney Cromwell
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Sydney Cromwell
The new West Homewood Park gymnasium includes basketball courts, covered batting cages and maintenance storage facilities.
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Sydney Cromwell
The new West Homewood Park gymnasium includes basketball courts, covered batting cages and maintenance storage facilities.
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Sydney Cromwell
The new West Homewood Park gymnasium includes basketball courts, covered batting cages and maintenance storage facilities.
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Sydney Cromwell
The new West Homewood Park gymnasium includes basketball courts, covered batting cages and maintenance storage facilities.
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Sydney Cromwell
The improvements at West Homewood Park include refurbishing existing athletic fields and adding new ones, including these multi-use fields next to the complex's new gymnasium.
Homewood's new athletic fields and gymnasium in West Homewood are open to the public after a ribbon-cutting on Tuesday, April 30.
The project to add new fields and refurbish existing ones, as well as add a new athletic building, was initiated in 2016. Public Services Director Berkley Squires said the project came in "on time and under budget," costing about $22.1 million.
The Parks and Recreation Department's budget for both the West Homewood Park project and the new aquatic center at Patriot Park was $30 million, and Squires said the two projects totaled $29.7 million.
The Patriot Park Pool will hold a ribbon-cutting on Friday, May 3, at noon and will open to the public on Monday, May 6, at 9 a.m.
Squires said the new athletic fields and gymnasium — which houses basketball courts, covered batting cages and maintenance storage — are a response to the growth in youth athletics participation. For instance, the youth basketball league has grown from about 195 kids when he started working with the city 11 years ago to around 800 last season.
Squires said the new facilities will make additional space for growing programs like flag football and lacrosse, and the Parks and Recreation Department is considering bringing back the adult recreational soccer league.
"Everything we've done here allows us to do things we've never done before," Squires said at the Tuesday ribbon-cutting.
Mayor Scott McBrayer said improving West Homewood's athletic fields will have a long-term effect on Homewood's children because of the positive impact of playing sports.
"There is absolutely no comparison" between Homewood's athletic fields today and those 10 years ago, McBrayer said.
The two park projects are paid for out of the city's $110 million bond taken out in 2016. The bond is also paying for renovations and additions across Homewood City Schools, which should wrap up in April 2020, and the new Homewood Police Department headquarters on Bagby Drive. Police Sgt. John Carr said construction delays mean the police likely will not open the new facility until mid-December, rather than late summer.
Any remaining funds from the bond will be put toward sidewalk projects around the city.
