Birmingham approves South Roebuck Park wheelchair accessible “pocket preserve”

Today, the Birmingham City Council approved funding for the redevelopment of East Side Park, also known as South Roebuck Park.

According to the resolution that was passed unanimously, $750,000 of the monies for the project will come from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The city is chipping in an additional $250,000.

Birmingham’s first fully accessible pocket preserve

Located at 621 Dogwood Drive and owned by Ruffner Mountain, the park will be transformed into a fully wheelchair accessible “pocket preserve.”

“The main questions we get asked at Ruffner Mountain and Turkey Creek are from that mom who just had a baby who asks, ‘Where can I use a stroller for my baby?’ or the father whose daughter is in a wheelchair asking, ‘where is a place to access something that feels like the woods?’ That’s the thing that I feel like we can provide—a trail, a pocket preserve—to solve this massive problem. That’s the goal.”

~Carlee Sanford, Ruffner Mountain

The funding the Birmingham City Council approved is a great start. If all goes as planned it will create 10,000 feet of wheelchair-accessible trails that will connect various immersive learning and natural sensory hubs.

Preserve will transform Birmingham’s Roebuck Springs

“Ruffner Mountain does an awesome job of being a good steward of the entire east side of Birmingham. I’m excited that East Side Park—which has been vacant and dilapidated—will now be able to be an ADA accessible area of Ruffner Mountain. I’m excited. I think it will not only transform the Roebuck Springs neighborhood but really be an asset for the entire east side.”

~ Hunter Williams, Birmingham City Councilor

Williams noted at the Council meeting that Ruffner Mountain and local leaders still need to raise additional funds to complete the project. Recently, the conservation group was awarded $25,000 by the Phillip Morris Fund for Design Arts to help support the landscape design work.

If you are interested in supporting the South Roebuck Park redevelopment, contact Ruffner Mountain. 

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