LOXLEY – Funding will go forward for a downtown Fairhope transit hub, but two other requests for project support from Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization will wait until August.

The MPO, a board of local officials, acts as a liaison between Baldwin County and state and federal transportation agencies and helps decides on the distribution of public infrastructure money. The usual distribution calls for 20 percent to be paid as a local match by the city or county and 80 percent from funds approved by the MPO.

The ESMPO Policy Board approved $350,000 for the Baldwin Rural Area Transportation System transit hub to be built off Church Street north of Fairhope Avenue. The project is part of a city effort to develop the alley behind the old Fairhope Hardware building into an “Arts Alley,” as a pedestrian location.

The total cost for the project is about $817,000, according to city estimates.

The MPO delayed action on another Fairhope request for funding for turn lanes on Gayfer Avenue at US 98 and a Baldwin County request for improvements on Baldwin County 64 in Belforest.

Members said they needed more information on each request before approving funding. The Policy Board set two special meetings for August to discuss the proposals.

The county request was for funding assistance for right of way acquisition and moving utilities new the site where the new Belforest Elementary School is being built east of Daphne. The estimated cost of that work is about $1.7 million, according to the request.

Daphne Mayor Dane Haygood, board chairman, said the project is needed, but that construction costs could add another $4 million to the price of the project before work is complete. That amount could drain MPO funding that will also be needed for other projects on the Eastern Shore.

County Commissioner Joe Davis, whose district includes the Eastern Shore, asked that the MPO approve the current funding request so that work can start before the school is scheduled to open in the fall of 2020. He said the board can decide on other requests in the future.

He said the county is seeking other funding sources, such as the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.

We came to you with our needs based on this project. Our concept is that we look under every rock to find whatever resources. ATRIP is one of them. We have a pretty steady dialog with ALDOT,” Davis said. “Address what we’re asking for here and recognize that we will pursue construction costs from a number of sources and we’ll probably come back and ask y’all to participate. You can choose to or not, but you will have done this part and we will be that much further down the road.”

The board will also decide in August on Fairhope’s request for assistance with funding for an $825,000 project to add turn lanes on Gayfer Avenue.

Fairhope Public Works Director Richard Johnson said the work is needed to eliminate backups on the busy road at the highway intersection.

Haygood said, however, that the request had not been on recent work session agendas and that the planned work was not described in the motion presented at the July meeting.

Johnson said the project has been on the MPO list of upcoming projects for about two years, but were moved off the recent agendas.

“They were moved and now we can’t act on it. This is a Catch 22. I have no problem with tabling it as long as there’s a certainty that an up or down vote at the end of the day,” Johnson said. “If the funding is no, then I’ll report that back to my council and they’ll make their decision accordingly, but I can’t give them information that I don’t have. Do they have to come up with 20 percent, or 100 percent.”