ROBERTSDALE, Alabama -- The Robertsdale City Council voted Monday to retain the services of Volkert Inc. in a $1.2 million project to resurface, widen and extend Wilters Street to the Baldwin Beach Express.

In November, the council voted to adopt Resolution 021-12 reclassifying Wilters Street as a major collector with plans to extend the roadway an additional half-mile eastward from Buck Road to the Baldwin Beach Express.

The action was part of the city’s application for an Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP) grant that was proposed by Gov. Robert Bently earlier this year.

At its Feb. 4 meeting, Council members learned that they had been awarded the grant, which will pay 80 percent of the $1.2 million price tag for the project, plus engineering and surveying costs.

Over the next year, the program plans to dole out $200 million to $300 million in grants designed to improve cities’ infrastructure.

The first phase of the program was completed in the spring, said Mayor Charles Murphy, and while the city did not receive any funding from the first phase, the city has received a pair of grants to complete two projects, the construction of a bride on College Street and the Wilters Street project.

The city has also applied for an ATRIP grant to fund a traffic light at the intersection of Highway 59 and County Road 48, which the city also plans to use as a main connector with the Baldwin Beach Express.

At its meeting Monday, Feb. 4, the Council voted to contract with Gonzales-Strength & Associates, a Tuscaloosa-based firm, to create and implement a proposal for the project with the Alabama Department of Transportation.

The company plans to begin surveying for the project toward the end of February and will submit a plan for review to the DOT by the end of March.

Plans are to submit a final plan to let the project by July 1 with the project set to go out for bids Aug. 30. If everything falls into place, both projects should be completed by the time the Baldwin Beach Express project to connect County Road 83 to Interstate 10 is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2014, said City Engineer Greg Smith.

The Council voted unanimously Monday to retain Volkert Inc. for survey work on the project at a cost of $24,800, engineering work at a cost of $75,088, environmental work at a cost of $49,975 and geotechnical work at a cost of $52,311 for a total cost of $202,174. The city will also pay 20 percent construction costs for the project, or $240,000 for a total out of pockets cost of around $450,000.

 “With the grant paying 80 percent, this is the best we could have hoped for as far as costs are concerned with a project of this magnitude,” he said.

In other business Monday, a local property owner withdrew his request to rezone property on Wilters Street from R-1 to B-2.

Attorney Lloyd Taylor, representing property owner Royce Kyser, said during a public hearing on Monday that the property has been used as a warehouse for decades and was grandfathered in when the property was rezoned in the late 1970s.

Taylor said Kyser, who recently purchased the property, has spent $125,000 renovating the property and hopes to use the property as a business.

“The property is worthless as a residential property,” Taylor said. “All we are asking is to be able to work with the property owners and the city to be able to use the property for what it was intended to be used for.”

Several property owners, however, expressed concern over traffic and potential noise problems associated with the property.

“There are already several cars parked on the property,” said one resident. “I’m concerned that if the property is used as an automotive shop that would mean a lot of noise associated with the property. Also, we have kids walking to school along Wilters Street and we’re concerned that added traffic on that route would cause a problem with safety.”

After several other property owners expressed concerns about safety, the city council voted unanimously to suspend the rules in order to introduce the rezoning request as an ordinance for vote.

Council member Ruthie Campbell asked if part of the property could be rezoned while retaining another part as residential.

When Murphy said the council could not change the request presented by the property owner, Taylor proposed to withdraw the request in order to submit a request at a later date to rezone part of the property while retaining part as residential.

The Council also voted in a split decision on Monday to purchase Christmas decorations at a cost of $11,154.

Council member Joe Kitchens voted against the request after Robertsdale’s chief financial officer, Ann Simpson, reported that the city was already over budget $3,000 on holiday expenses for 2013 and that the additional expense would push the city further over budget.

“I am not against having better Christmas lights, but when we are already over budget, I just can’t vote for it. I just can’t,” Kitchens said.

The measure passed 4-2 to Council members Sue Cooper, Ruthie Campbell, Paul Hollingsworth and Brent Kendrick voting for the measure. Kitchens and Murphy voted against.

The Council also approved an ad request by the Robertsdale High School golf team at a cost of $100 and voted to surplus a pair of trucks from the city’s Utilities Department and voted to donate one of the trucks to Central Baldwin Middle School.