At Tuesday’s meeting of the Mobile City Council, Mayor Sandy Stimpson will ask council members to authorize a contract with Moffatt & Nichol Inc. to evaluate and design public amenities that would help activate the city’s downtown waterfront at Cooper Riverside Park.

A release from the mayor’s office outlined that if approved by the council, this contract would authorize Moffatt & Nichol to begin exploring design elements for possible public amenities near the Mobile Convention Center and park as well as ways to enhance public access and use of this important part of the city’s waterfront.

Some of the potential design elements the city would ask Moffatt & Nichol to explore include: an observation wheel; green spaces; shade structures; spaces for food vendors like food trucks, airstream trailers or shipping containers; the Hall of Fame Courtyard honoring Mobile’s baseball legends; and better access to the park on the north and south sides of the Mobile Convention Center.

“This is very preliminary design work, but it is a starting point that will help us identify some options to better utilize our City’s waterfront at Cooper Riverside Park,” Stimpson said in a statement. “The area around the park is beautiful today, but with some enhancements, I believe it could become a landmark location enjoyed by Mobilians and tourists visiting our City.”

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn