Huntsville's Big Spring International Park west lagoon will be fenced off this fall and winter for a $1.9 million upgrade to the lagoon's collapsing stone walls.

City officials told the City Council Thursday night they also plan to add "hardscape" - basically a large colored and textured concrete pad - to the area west of the Huntsville Museum of Art. That will facilitate its current use as a summer concert and winter ice skating venue and end the need for expensive re-sodding every spring, they said.

"It will still be the Big Spring Park we have known for several decades," City Administrator John Hamilton promised of the end result. The qualifier - "we have known for several decades" - reflects the reality that the park has undergone numerous changes since its creation, Hamilton said.

Vote will come soon

City Council members heard the briefing but were not asked to vote. That will come soon, however, because of a tight timeline to finish the work before next April's Panoply Arts Festival. "There's a lot of risk built into the timeline," Hamilton said, "but the engineers say it's possible."

Ice skating will continue in the park this winter, Hamilton said, as will the popular Tinsel Trail of Christmas trees. However, most of the trees will be on the park's east side this year, the said.

Hamilton listed six reasons for doing the work now: collapsing lagoon walls, broken and uneven sidewalks, erosion of the lagoon's banks, insufficient electrical infrastructure for events, poor water flow in the lagoon, and pedestrian safety.

The collapsing walls are the big reason, Hamilton said. He displayed a series of slides showing crumbling stone and numerous dirt fills.

Hydrologists consulted

The water flow is also important, Hamilton said, and hydrologists have consulted with the city. "The water flow does not allow the lakes to clean themselves," Hamilton said. Instead, water flows from the canal on the park's east side almost directly west toward the Von Braun Center. That increases erosion on the lagoon wall closest to the civic center parking garage and results in still, unclean water elsewhere.

The plan is to "reshape the water flow" at the Church Street entrance to the park. The lake will also "be reshaped by a few feet" to help channel the water south.

Hamilton said the lagoon will not be drained, preserving the home of the ducks and fish that live there. Instead, the new walls will be added directly in front of the existing walls in a way that "the old wall will be encapsulated by the new wall," he said.

"We will end up with more of the lake surrounded by cherry trees," he added.

Contractor, city crews

Hamilton said the work will be done by a contractor selected by a bid process with assistance from city crews. He pointed to the recent rework of the park's eastern side as a model for how the project will proceed. The $1.9 million cost estimate is less than the city originally anticipated, he said.

The only council member to respond to the briefing was District 4 Councilman Bill Kling, Jr. Kling said he liked what he saw and added, "I think we've got a great plan."