DAPHNE, Ala.—Lake Forest’s roads may soon be smooth as the City Council  at its work session Monday debated how to move forward in planning repairs.

Councilman Ron Scott suggested turning to Hutchinson, Moore and Rausch—the engineering firm spearheading the project—to prioritize areas needing immediate attention.

Scott said the council should leave prioritizing to professionals and focus on where the money will come from.

Councilman Bailey Yelding simplified the situation into two distinct solutions.

“We’re going to have to allocate money out of the reserve or we’re just not going to do it,” he said.

Councilman August Palumbo spoke about how the city can’t depend on a planned stimulus package—to be distributed by the federal government later this year—for capital improvements such as Lake Forest’s roads.

“We have to start looking at the traditional sources of revenue,” he said.

Council President John Lake expressed disfavor of issuing another bond, citing that the city still pays for a bond that helped construct Eastern Shore Park; the city owes $9.9 million on the issued bond and has until 2036 to finish paying it off, according to the city’s finance director, Kim Briley.

“I’m not in favor of us doing another bond issue because we borrowed in 1990 and are still paying on it,” he said.

Lake added he would like to see a policy that would annually budget around $600,000 dedicated to road improvements.

No funds currently are budgeted for road improvements, according to Briley. However, a total of $695,000 in capital is available to fix Lake Forest’s roads, she said.

$493,000 could come from the gas tax and $202,000 from a prior year but has not been spent.

Lake noted that the size of Lake Forest is an important factor in deciding how to plan a course of action because the subdivision’s crumbling road conditions will affect the entire city.

“Lake Forest is the largest subdivision in the state of Alabama,” he said. “If the property values in Lake Forest start to decrease, then the property values of Daphne will decrease as well.”

Bill Eady, senior director of community development, suggested that the council prioritize, focusing on the streets in the worst condition.

The council plans to learn how much capital is available to commit to repaving Lake Forest’s roads. Then, they will prioritize which roads must be fixed first, determined by conditions and traffic flow.

Ultimately, they will devise a five- to eight-year plan to improve the area in sections to include repaving and installing curbs, gutters and sidewalks.