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Community Revitalization: Prichard, Alabama |
Mitigation Measures
Prichard, AL, was a socially, economically, and environmentally depressed community. The project was used to reverse the downward spiral of its social, economic, and environmental conditions. City of Prichard officials collaborated with the FHWA, ALDOT, city of Mobile, and other Federal, State, and local officials to solve problems unique to its community.
The I-210/I-65 project directly impacted the community because it needed to acquire land on which to build the new roadway. The decision to follow the community's wishes and build the new roadway through Prichard presented a number of challenges in acquiring the needed right of way, including the acquisition of 500 tracts of land and the relocation of 276 families, 52 businesses, 9 churches, a fire station, and a library.
- Seven of the nine affected churches built new structures or renovated existing buildings.
- Many of the affected families lived in rental housing: houses that were not decent, safe,
and sanitary (DSS); or subsidized housing. The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property
Acquisition Policy Act of 1970 provides for "housing of the last resort" which allows agencies
to exceed the maximum statutory limit for relocation-housing payments for tenants. Many of the
larger families needed more bedrooms to meet decent, safe, and sanitary (DSS) requirements.
Computations were based on the low incomes of the families, which pushed many
replacement-housing payments over $10,000. Seventy-one percent of the tenants displaced were
offered last-resort-housing payments. Some residents used this as an opportunity to move on and
others stayed.
- Nine percent of the owner occupants were offered last-resort-housing payments that exceeded $22,500. One third of the 129 tenants displaced--40 families--became homeowners by using their last-resort-housing payment offers as down payments.
Many of the businesses relocated outside the downtown area. ALDOT discovered through follow-up calls to these businesses that most were doing at least as well as they had done in downtown Prichard. Although there was a net loss of businesses in downtown, officials expected this to be a short-term effect.
| Both the library and the fire station were approximately 50 years old and in poor condition. The FHWA and ALDOT initiated meetings with city officials, community leaders, fire department personnel, and library board members in the early stages of project development to discuss the Federal Functional Replacement Program (23 CFR 712.601). This program is designed to pay the necessary cost to replace a publicly owned facility being acquired with a similar facility that offers the same utility, including betterments and enlargements required by present-day local laws, codes, and reasonable prevailing standards for similar facilities in the area. All parties were in general agreement prior to the EIS that the publicly owned structures needed to be functionally replaced rather than acquired for the appraised, fair-market value. Both were replaced under the Federal Functional Replacement Program and opened for business in 1993. |
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FHWA and ALDOT surveyed other libraries in the area and hired a library consultant to educate the community and the agency officials about current library standards. The resulting, 9,200-square-foot library was designed to foster a sense of community. The $1 million library was 4.8 times the appraised value of the old library. However, its fully equipped multi-purpose room provides a place for community meetings, civic activities, and educational activities. By all accounts, it has become the focal point of the community, where there was none before.
A similar process was followed to determine what should be provided for the new fire station. The resulting structure has three bays. Its 8,200-square-foot area also contains up-to-date facilities, such as a dormitory, kitchen, and recreational space. It cost $1.8 million to build and was 14 times the appraised value of the old facility. The new facility increased the capacity of the fire department to respond to emergencies of all sorts, including those requiring emergency medical services. About 65 percent of calls to the fire station are of this type. And, it seems, there may have been an unanticipated, community-safety benefit. It was reported that the number of fires in Prichard seems to have decreased. This might have resulted from fewer substandard housed in the area.
With FHWA and ALDOT working with Prichard officials, I-165 was designed in such a way as to minimize community segmentation. As an elevated roadway, many streets could cross under the facility, unobstructed. However, some streets would be closed due to the roadway structure or large storm water retention ponds needed under the highway. In general, residents believe the road has not impaired their ability to move from one part of Prichard to another, particularly to and from the downtown area. The willingness of ALDOT and FHWA to work with Prichard officials was instrumental in achieving this optimal solution.