FOLEY — Plans for new facilities and infrastructure are moving forward as the City of Foley continues to meet the needs of a growing community, Mayor Ralph Hellmich said during his annual State of the City address.
Several major projects designed to expand city services are nearing completion. Work on the new Public Works Campus on North Poplar Street is scheduled to be fully completed this spring, with some portions of the facility expected to open as early as January.
The new campus will provide additional space and upgraded facilities for multiple city departments. Once operations move to the new location, the current Public Works facility will be renovated for other uses.
“Once we move over there this spring, we will refurbish the old Public Works campus,” Hellmich said. “That will give our Parks and Recreation Department a new home, which will be more modern. We’re moving 150 people to this campus. This will be vastly expanded with modern technology, which will meet our needs for the next 30 or 40 years.”
Following the opening of the Public Works Campus, construction is expected to be completed on the new library and community center on East Orange Avenue. The 40,000-square-foot facility will be about twice the size of the current library and is scheduled to open in the spring.
Hellmich said that the new library will serve as a hub for community programs in addition to traditional library services.
“A lot of people ask why we are building a public library,” Hellmich said. “It’s because of the programs that our library hosts. There are thousands of children who go through programs in our public library every year. We have computer labs, genealogy research, and other services. This new library will be a focus for the programs that support our community.”
The city completed several additional projects over the past year, including extending Jessamine Avenue east of Heritage Park and constructing a new park gateway.
“We closed the gap on Jessamine Street and finished the grand entrance, which we’re going to continue around downtown,” Hellmich said.
Similar improvements are now underway on South Chicago Street south of Heritage Park. Foley has also continued adding sidewalks to improve pedestrian access throughout the city, including new walkways along North Cedar Street.
The Foley City Council approved $1 million for roadway repaving and improvements. Other completed projects include enhancements at Mills Community Park and construction of the Pecan Street Crosswalk.
Looking ahead, Foley plans to begin construction on a new fire station in the northeast area of the city, build a new access road serving the Industrial Park, and work with Baldwin County to extend James Road south.
The city is also developing plans for a new Civic Center, an Aquatic Center and a new Senior Center.
As Foley grows, the city continues to fund projects through a combination of sources, including impact fees paid by developers. These funds have supported projects such as the recently completed pickleball and sand volleyball complex and new soccer fields in west Foley.
Sports tourism continues to be an economic driver for the city. Foley Sports Tourism hosted 85 events that brought more than 250,000 visitors to the area, generating an estimated $44.5 million in business sales, $11 million in food and beverage sales, $5.5 million in lodging sales, and $2.5 million in local tax revenue.
Growth also presents challenges, Hellmich said, but it has helped attract major investments such as the Baldwin Health hospital expansion.
“Without that growth, you would not have a new $300 million hospital complex,” he said. “With this expansion of medical parks and hospitals, we hope we can continue meeting the needs of our citizens.”
Hellmich credited city employees for helping manage growth and deliver services.
“We’re doing a good job. Everybody in this room is doing a great job,” he told employees.
As Foley continues to expand, the demand for city services will increase as well.
“When you grow, you need more fire trucks, more police officers, more garbage trucks — you name it,” Hellmich said. “We’re growing, and we probably will be the largest city in Baldwin County within the next 10 years. We’re not trying to do that. It’s just a great place to live.”