Cullman’s Park and Recreation Department has big plans for the little park on Main Avenue.

Saturday saw the public unveiling of the master plan for a total overhaul of the Cullman City Park, which lies at the intersection of Main Avenue and Second Street SW.

A ribbon-cutting served as a community re-introduction to the historic park, whose newly-renovated art guild building served as the city’s first headquarters for the park and rec department during its earliest days.

The ceremony coincided with a well-attended Art in the Park day, drawing vendors, parents, children and pets to the heavily-wooded urban valley, long a quiet oasis set between small-lot residential homes and a busy thoroughfare through the city’s west side.

City leaders feel the park holds far more potential than its recent use suggests, and the new master plan is a first step toward recognizing that potential — all while carving out a unique niche among Cullman’s many recreational offerings.

“Our community has lacked in the area of bringing exposure to art, and in making conservation efforts,” explained Park & Rec Executive Director Nathan Anderson. “We’re excited that this park will address both of those things.

“We have big ideas for this being the start of something even bigger in our community. The way the renovated park is being designed, it’s going to help alleviate some existing flooding issues by creating a retention part for water runoff, and we will be mitigating those kinds of issues, also, by planting native wildflowers and vegetation.

“The idea there is to have four seasons of blooms, so that the park will actually change looks throughout the year. And, in the process, it will also bring in native insects and wildlife. It’s designed to be low maintenance, which will ensure that our maintenance costs remain low for the park as a whole.”

Birmingham-based landscape architecture firm Renta Urban Land Design is handling the park’s master plan. In addition to the vegetation and water features, the design also calls for reconfigured walking paths, a new parking scheme, a new playground area, a new pedestrian bridge, an outdoor classroom with a focus on art instruction, and a heavy emphasis on public art displays in keeping with the park’s mission.

The functional (read: ugly) concrete drainage ditch that currently bisects the park will give way to a softer-edged waterway lined with natural stone, riprap and vegetation. In times of heavy rainfall, the new design will slow the flow of water through the property before channeling it along its current path beneath Main Avenue.

“It has taken the effort and dedication of a lot of people to make this project a reality,” said Anderson. “The park board, our park and rec staff, and our community all continue to provide an extraordinary amount of support, just as they do with so many of our projects, and none of this would be possible without them.”

Anderson said some engineering and planning hurdles must be cleared before ground can be broken on those parts of the the master plan that address storm water mitigation. But, he added, park guests can expect to begin seeing evidence of construction for many of the plan’s other features in the coming weeks.

There’s no completion timetable for the plan as a whole, but Cullman Mayor Woody Jacobs said funds are in place to ensure work continues through the remainder of 2017, and anticipates no municipal hurdles that would slow the work.

“Once we work out some of the water engineering with the [U.S. Army] Corps [of Engineers], we’ll pretty much be good to go,” he said. “There’s nothing holding us back on the city side of things, so we’re looking forward to getting started. It’s a great space, and I think it will really be a well-used asset that the whole community can enjoy.”