State to fund Coden center

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs on Monday approved a $685,500 grant to buy and renovate a Coden building for use as a community center, according to Mobile County officials.

Residents say the state funding is great, but they still have to raise another $250,000 to complete all the renovations for the 7,500-square-foot building on 8.33 acres at Alabama 188 and Callahan Road.

The extra funding is needed to pave the parking lot, among other things, said Jim Fuller, head of the South Bay Community Alliance, which will operate the center once it opens.

A paved parking lot is particularly important as county officials want to use the community center as a distribution site following hurricanes, Fuller said. If the parking lot isn't paved, he said, 18-wheelers full of ice, water and food, as well as residents looking for help, would be driving on mud.

ADECA grant money cannot be used for the parking lot, according to Annette McGrady, a consultant who is helping Mobile County manage Hurricane Katrina-related funding. The state money will pay for the $375,000 purchase price of the property, renovation of the building and establishment of a septic system there, she said.

Fuller said he planned to meet with state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, and that other members of the alliance have met with legislators in Washington, D.C., to try to find additional funding.

The Mobile County Commission on Monday voted to purchase the property from owner James Faulk.

Commissioner Mike Dean said the center would provide space for community meetings, in addition to being used by recovery workers and to store emergency equipment. He said the property could even have a helicopter pad and house a fire truck for a volunteer unit.

The county originally requested and was granted $168,000 in federal funds -- channeled through ADECA -- to replace the center's roof, which was damaged during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

In November 2006, the commission decided to change the request and ask for $700,000 to build a new 3,000-square-foot community center.

County officials said two private buildings that were once used for community gatherings also had been destroyed by Katrina, so the old, 2,000-square-foot community center would not be large enough to meet Coden's needs.

In January, officials agreed on the building that Faulk had been letting the community use free of charge.