Jefferson County is set to join the effort to bring a major sensory accessibility and training development to the former Powell Avenue Steam Plant building on Birmingham’s Southside.

In their committee meeting Tuesday, commissioners moved to Thursday’s agenda a resolution to invest $3.5 million in KultureCity’s plan to create the National Accessibility Park at the former Alabama Power Co. property, which borders Railroad Park. KultureCity is an international nonprofit begun in Birmingham that addresses sensory accessibility and acceptance.

KultureCity bought the steam plant property in July and already has commitments from the state of Alabama, the city of Birmingham and about $25 million raised from private donors outside the area. When completed, the development would include training for individuals with certain disabilities, a museum, amphitheater, sensory park and resource center.

“This project would represent a $60 million investment here in downtown Birmingham,” said Jeff Traywick, the county’s economic development specialist. “Some of the key features of their proposal include the first U.S. technical college for individuals with disabilities. This is one of the things that really excites me from the economic development aspect because of the workforce part of this proposal. In Jefferson County, about 13.1% of people live with some sort of disability and only about 43.2% of those people are employed.

“To put that in perspective, our overall workforce participation rate is 61.1%,” Traywick said. “Those are people who are actively in the workforce — a civilian who is employed or unemployed and seeking work. I think it’s partly (disabled people) learning how to live with your disability. On the flip side, you have employers who are largely unfamiliar with how to work with those people to provide them with the accommodations to do what they can do so they can help the organization. KultureCity is attacking that from both ends.”

Dr. Julian Maha, a KultureCity board member, told the commission the group plans to break ground on the project next year, probably between April and July.

Maha said the “fundamental thing” about the project is helping train people who were born with a disability or acquired a disability as an adult.

“We have a model that we believe is not only scalable locally but also nationally, that can have global impact if we can initiate it. That’s number one,” he said. “Number two is, how do we also continue to boost local tourism to this space? That’s part of our other plans for the space, in particular, in creating a museum of culture on the impact people with disabilities have had on our world. That’s another separate piece.

“The third piece is to establish something called the National Disability Learning Center,” Maha continued. “It will basically help families navigating a disability diagnosis come to Birmingham and basically figure out a way that they can road map that disability diagnosis with contributions from UAB, from all the other great minds in the area, from Lakeshore Foundation and really kind of position Birmingham as the international location when it comes to accessibility and disability and empowerment.”

Traywick said the National Accessibility Park will provide those with certain disabilities with skills training and potential workforce opportunities.

“They’re also going to include a navigation and support hub with guidance on therapies, education, rights and peer support for those with disabilities,” he said. “There will be a National Disability Art Gallery and Museum, an accessibility amphitheater and sensory park and a retail and culinary training space to train those employees that do have disabilities.”

KultureCity estimates there will be about 250,000 annual visitors to the development, with an annual economic impact on Jefferson County of about $378,108 through sales and property taxes.

City officials and supporters of Railroad Park have been advocating for redevelopment of the steam plant property as a way to extend the park’s amenities and encourage growth on the park’s northern side.