GOOD HOPE, Ala.- Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett at Monday’s city council meeting announced that Gibbs Garden Center will be relocating to Good Hope. Currently located in Holly Pond, Gibbs Garden Center will be expanding as it moves to 39 acres off Day Gap Road/County Road 616 near Interstate 65.
Bartlett announced, “Dusty (Gibbs) is going to build a state-of-the-art nursery, all retail nursery, here in the Good Hope area out on 616 right by the interstate. It’s on the McElroy property. There’s going to be 26 buildings he is going to erect out there.”
The plan is to have the new location open by fall, and Bartlett is optimistic that the visibility from the interstate will “bring a lot of retail tax dollars into the city of Good Hope and we are just so proud to have him coming.”
Gibbs Garden Center is owned by Dusty and Heather Gibbs. Dusty Gibbs spoke to The Tribune about the decision to relocate. He said, “Holly Pond has always been good to us and I consider it my home.
“We are just out of room where we are at,” he said. “The last couple of years we’ve been looking at different options. Once we started looking, it became evident that we wanted to be by the interstate and try to have that exposure, and once we finally found that last fall in Good Hope, everything just kind of fell into place. We are really excited about it. It’s bittersweet as far as leaving Holly Pond.”
The current location in Holly Pond is on 5 acres, so the move to 39 acres will be a significant expansion.
Gibbs explained, “We are looking to really expand and have several more greenhouses- things set up more state of the art and more things automated. In doing so, I think we will be able to offer a higher quality job and workplace and also economically be able to provide some of the goods we are already providing in certain cases even at a cheaper price than what we are doing now.”
Land clearing on the property has already begun, but the rain has caused a few minor setbacks. There will be 16 new structures in the beginning, and Gibbs hopes that the expansion will allow the company to create a few more jobs.
His vision, he said, is “to build a destination garden center in the state of Alabama.”
Gibbs and his staff will begin planting mums at the new location in early June in hopes of them being ready for sale when the center opens in the fall.
“We fell in love with dealing with the McElroys down there, and it’s been in their family land for a long time. I think it was appealing to them that something was going there agricultural- or horticultural-type and growing stuff because their dad had done that for years there.”
In other business
Bartlett addressed the severe weather experienced on Easter Sunday, saying, “The city of Good Hope has weathered the storm very well. We had several trees down last night. Our guys, we called them in around 10:30 and they were out here until after 2 a.m. last night. We appreciate all their hard work.”
City crews were back out early Monday morning taking care of downed trees and other trouble spots around the city after Sunday night’s storms.
City employees are still hard at work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bartlett said, “We just try to keep everybody safe. They have been keeping all our mowing done; we’ve had several projects we have completed in the last two or three weeks pertaining to culverts, roads, ditches and just general maintenance of the city. I am really pleased with how the city looks. We are picking up trash about three days a week and when you drive through, you can tell that these guys are working hard and we are just really proud.”
Road projects the City has completed or are in the process of addressing include:
- Completed turn lane at Beech Grove Road at County Road 437
- Asphalted road and added sewer line on Rushing
- Grating and gravel work on County Road 435 beginning next week
- Dead trees removed on Ryan Road
- New culvert and headwalls on Megan Lane
- New headwall and larger pipe on Ryan Road
- Repaired sinkholes, a broken drain inlet pipe and added four guide poles on White Oak Circle in Deer Run subdivision
2020 Census
Councilwoman Susan Eller urges everyone in Good Hope and Cullman County to make sure to fill out complete the 2020 Census.
She said, “One of the things you will want to think about is during this event that we are having now, the way they know how much to send to our community is based on the numbers they gather during this count. It only happens every 10 years. If you want to make sure there is enough support when there are things happening in the community, this is the time to make that happen.”
Those who have questions or need help can call Good Hope City Hall at 256-739-3757.
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