Design Alabama plans park with community input

DOUBLE SPRINGS - In two recent meetings of an 11 member committee, multiple ideas have coalesced into the new pocket park coming to Double Springs. In the last meeting on Thursday, May 20, ideas from the first meeting were finalized. While the park is still new in its design infancy, there are a couple of items needing to be done before any work begins, according to Double Springs Mayor Elmo Robinson. These are getting cost estimates from architectures and then applying for grants.
During the committee’s first meeting on Thursday, April 15, the park ideas were given to a team from Design Alabama, a non-profit organization, to help design the new park located on the original site of the two springs for which the town was named.
Design Alabama’s program, Design Dash, helped guide the committee members and elicited ideas for the park. After this was complete, the committee left the team for several hours so they could draw and design the park using the committee’s ideas.
“This is a project I’ve been wanting to do for years,” Robinson said. “I can remember the water being down there (at the old mill). We’re wanting to do a rendition of it for future people where they won’t forget it.”
Crystal Till, of Community Unity, agreed with Robinson.
“What I want to see is a tribute to the history of the two springs,” she said.
“My thought is I would like to see a small replica of the old mill that used to be there,” Police Chief Kim Miller said. “(And to have) a small area for visitor information and maybe a restroom.” Miller mentioned the septic tank was still there from the former Traders and Farmers Bank which was on the property a few years ago.
The original springs were covered when Highway 195 was straightened through town as it curved in front of the courthouse before following where Main Street is today. The springs were recreated for the 1976 Bicentennial when a park was created by what is now Grace Reformed Baptist Church and the health department, though it fell into disrepair and was leveled in the early 1980s.
Another idea for the new park is to point out other interests in the county for visitors to the park, such as the forest, Smith Lake and Natural Bridge.