TARRANT, Ala. (WIAT) — CBS 42's Your Voice Your Station team first told you about the need for a storm shelter in Tarrant almost three years ago. Since our report, work that began earlier this year has suddenly stopped.
Randy Weaver first reached out to us in 2021 after Fultondale got hit by an EF-3 tornado. It destroyed homes and businesses, resulting in the death of a resident. Weaver has been fighting for a shelter closer to home in Tarrant so when the work stopped several weeks ago, he wanted to know why.
“It’s been way overdue, way overdue,” Weaver said.
Weaver walked with us around the site of the future Tarrant storm shelter in the rec center parking lot.
“They should be building a second or third one,” Weaver said. “There’s not another tornado shelter that I know of between here and Birmingham.”
Construction started in March. Before long, everything stopped.
“They weren’t aware there was a pool here,” Weaver said. “I just don’t believe it at all.”
Weaver said he has memories of being a kid and swimming at the pool.
“I swam in it, I sure did,” Weaver said. “This was an active little area right here. That pool was there in the late 50’s early 60’s and then they just covered it up. I thought well, uncover it, and there you go you’ve got a hole.”
Mayor Wayman Newton said he was aware of the pool and that it shut down during integration.
“It did catch them off guard when they were digging, and they were actually preparing the foundation and they noticed it started to sink,” Newton said. “It was my understanding that it was closed back in the 60’s and rather than actually closing it properly, they just put dirt in it and threw asphalt over it and turned it into a parking lot.”
We also asked Newton why Jefferson County and contractor JD Morris didn’t know about the pool until they started digging.
“I’m not familiar with that,” Newton said. “I haven’t actually spoken with them directly. I’ve been going through the county.”
We pulled the original documents of the plans for the shelter from Jefferson County drawn in August of 2023 by Lathan Associates Architects. The contractor said no preliminary drawings showed there was a pool underground. They’ve since hired out to a Geotech engineering firm who advised that they remove the pool, build a stronger foundation and go from there.
“In spite of the complications, Commissioner Joe Knight was able to see to it that we received all of the funding to make it possible,” Newton said. “We’re truly grateful for that as a city.”
Newton said these complications will delay the project until the contractor gets back from another job.
“I don’t think it’ll be done before the end of the year,” Weaver said.
The original project cost was $352,000 from the Jefferson County general fund, but that has gone up by $97,948 more. Tarrant has agreed to pay $25,000 of it and the rest is set to be approved at the Jefferson County Commission meeting on Aug. 22. After that, a county official said construction can officially resume.
Although there is no storm shelter in Tarrant, the Jefferson County EMA has designated Safer Places – or facilities that have gotten the voluntary designation as a safe place to go during severe weather. You can read more information about them here.
You can find your closest Jefferson County storm shelter here.