ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- A major renovation for the City of Robertsdale’s historic PZK Civic Center is set to begin later this month.

The project was part of the city’s 2012-13 budget which was unanimously passed at its Sept. 17 meeting.  The project would utilize a $100,000 Federal appropriation obtained a couple of years ago from U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner.

Mayor Charles Murphy announced at the Robertsdale City Council meeting on Monday night, May 6 that if the funds were not used the appropriation is set to run out at the end of September.

“We either use it or we lose it,” he said.

In a later interview, Murphy said the city started some minor renovations about two months ago spending about $20,000 of the $100,000 appropriation, leaving about $80,000 to use on the remaining project. In all, the project will cost the city about $400,000.

At its March 18 meeting, the council voted to refinance part of a general obligation warrant from 2006, which would allow the city to borrow an additional $1.5 million, listing the PZK project as one of six proposed projects to be financed by the warrant.

Additional projects include:

• Construction of four tennis courts for public use within the city. Initial plans were to build the courts and Robertsdale High School and share the funding with the Board of Education, but the city now plans to build the courts on a separate site. Total cost of the project will be around $143,000.

• Wilters Street Extension project. The $1.1 million project will be funded in part by an ARTRIP grant with a cost to the city of $433,000.

• College Street Bridge project. The $362,800 project will be funded by a matching grant with a total cost to the city of $`124,000.

• Traffic light at County Road 48 and Highway 59, total cost to the city of $613,000.

• The purchase of two lots in Palmer Place 2 for drainage purposes at a total cost of $32,000. The Council voted unanimously to approve the purchase at the March meeting, and plans are to use the lots for access in a cleaning operation on the detention pond that borders the complex.

Muphy said plans are to begin the PZK project toward the end of May, beginning with replacing the wooden decking on the west side of the building with a poured concrete decking.

“Plans are to start on the west side of the building and work our way around to the back,” he said. “Our hope is to keep the building open for use as much as possible since we already have obligations to use the building lined up.”

Next, a T-wing will be constructed on the east side of the building, providing a side entrance to the building and a 1,000 square foot covered canopy.

Then, plans are to add 3,000-square-feet onto the back of the building, including a kitchen, restrooms and a meeting room. One of the current restrooms will be turned into a dressing room, while the other will become a hallway leading into the back of the building, Murphy said.

The final project would be to completely strip and replace the roof with a new metal structure, bringing the new roofline in sync with the additions to the building.

According to an article published in The Independent in January of 1994, the 6,000 square foot structure was originally built in 1924 and added to in the 1950s.

The PZK (which stands for Poucny a Zabavni Krouzek, translated as Educational Recreational Circle), a group of Czechoslovakian immigrants, built the structure to serve settlers which came to Robertsdale from the North in the 1920s. The Hall was also used by German and Swedish settlers.

The PZK donated the property to the City of Robertsdale on Aug. 17, 1992, and was closed for just over a year, from Dec. 10, 1992 to just before Christmas of 1993, while the city spent about $100,000 to renovate the building.

In February of 1994, the property was dedicated to the city with the property being renamed PZK Civic Park and the meeting hall named the PZK Civic Center.

The improvements will bring the structure into compliance with the American Disabilities Act, Murphy said. Plans are to have the project completed by the end of 2013.