Baldwin County Commission Regular - workshop

All right. Uh, welcome to our Tuesday, June 16th pre-meeting work session. Um, I will get, uh, we'll go with commissioner Underwood with the blessing today, followed by commissioner McKenzie with the pledge of allegiance. So please stand.

Good morning. Please bow your head with me. Dear gracious heavenly father. We thank you for this day, Lord. We just thank you for everything that you do for us here in this wonderful place that we call home Baldwin County. And, Lord, I just ask you to be with us today as we conduct the business of the county commission. Lord, give us courage, wisdom, strength to do the right thing. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Please join me in the pledge of allegiance.

First up, we've got the adoption of, excuse me. I don't even know why I started there. We're going to set our consent agenda. That's what we're going to do. I don't know why I was ready to get over with. We've got two administrative items, CA1 and CA2. I'm okay.

Good? Yeah.

All right.

Ms. Wanda on TV, if y'all have any questions about our budget and purchasing items.

I'm good.

Good to go here.

Yeah, I'm good. Council on Aging.

I'm fine with that one.

Got some elected officials things, two items for that.

It's fine.

That's good.

Commissioner Gruber hadn't heard anything you said.

We got a CM1 finance and accounting. Yeah, I'm good. Sounds good. Yes. All of our grants, CN1, CN2, CN3, and CN4, CN5, CN6, all of those.

Yep. Good to go.

Highway items, CO1 through CO5.

Good to go.

All right. Yeah, I'm good. Parks and Recreation. yeah good good with that yeah personnel department yep any questions on those our planning and zoning department cs1 and cs2 no i'm good with that no good okay commission can we have it yep

Instead of a presentation, we just wanted to tell you a little bit about these two grants because the Mobile Bay National Estuary Programs here, they helped us with both of these grants. As you know, James Howard and I work with natural resource planning and zoning, and we have two grants on the agenda today. One is a longleaf that James has handled completely, and one for modeling the Styx River watershed, which is so important for us with the software that we've invested in as the county. But with that, James and I are here to answer any questions, but Jason would just like to say a couple words real quick about the Mobile Bay National Reservoir Program. Sure.

Hey, good morning, Commissioner. It's great to be here. I just wanted to introduce myself again. You know, our longtime director, Roberta Swan, retired at the end of last year, and so I've filled that role. I'm fortunate to be serving our coastal communities along with you and the great work we're doing at Baldwin County, and I think these are another two good opportunities for us to partner to do something valuable. So, thank you.

Well, since you're here, tell us a little bit more about this Styx River modeling because I get a lot of complaints about Styx River. Is this going to help us? How is it going to help?

Yes, ma'am. So we've been developing these hydrologic models for really the last decade, but now there's a new evolution of it where we're able to upload those models into a software that county staff is able to make land use and planning decisions with, as well as assistant emergency management. Okay. So we're, we're facilitating those models as well, as well as the software that's required or the subscription. And so Mr. Lundy's team can go in there and run these scenarios to look at, let's say there's an impending development or a major land use change, how that might impact folks downstream in the watersheds, as well as your infrastructure. So. We all find that it's a very valuable tool to make sure that we're getting all the information we can before we make some of these critical decisions.

Oh, sounds good. Thank you. Commissioner, if I could add just one thing. We really appreciate NEP and what Jason and his team do. On this modeling, just to give you guys an example of how we're able to implement this stuff now. Two recent developments, actually both of them were inside the city limits, but they were right there on the edge and they had some regional impacts. We were able to take their design, their stormwater designs, plug in this model and really look at what those regional impacts would be and downstream impacts would be. So they actually designed their stormwater systems that it actually reduced the pre-existing condition downstream. So this, from a regional planning perspective, these tools are... incredibly useful and a great thing that we use a lot more going forward.

That was good. And we look forward to partnering with some of our cities, Jay, to allow them to use it too, because the subscription is like a budget item for us, but we can partner with them and they can use it to do some of their modeling. Because once you have the model set up, any entity that's within that watershed, if they have a subscription or share a subscription, they can run the model. So that would be Loxley that you're referring to?

The two I was referring to was actually Daphne and Foley. Oh, really? One was a large development that's right. Oh, okay.

You're not talking about Sticks River. You're talking about other. Yeah, this was. Okay. I was like, how'd you get Sticks River down there?

Okay. So if you guys remember last year, we had a grant from NEP to put the monitoring stations on Sticks River. Well, they've been collecting data for a year now. So now we have enough data that can actually model the watershed. That was good.

Thank you.

and now real quick james if you don't mind i'll let him tell a little bit about the longleaf pine restoration and then we'll be done good morning commissioners if i could just give some context on this so this longleaf pine restoration is a niff whiff grant we're seeking 150 000 it is going to complement our larger magnolia river project so we're looking to hopefully plant up to 80 acres of longleaf pine the money will help out with seedlings and of course the planning and we appreciate your consideration on this grant.

Sounds good. Thank you. Thanks for the explanations. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissions, I'm going to bring three addendum before us to possibly put on consent if you all agree.

GA1, GA2, GA3.

GA3 would be based, if we vote on that, we will be based on the contingency of those people getting their liability insurance other than that we we have two stable ones here if you want to move them to our consent agenda good good yeah we'll move those three to the consent agenda with and when we adopt the consent agenda I'll make sure that they specify about the liability insurance being contingent all right now up to our public comment section Everybody has signed up here today to speak to the public. This is our comment section where comments are limited to three minutes per person, five minutes per spokesperson for the group. And when you get up to this microphone up here and just kind of introduce yourself to us, where you're from, and then whatever topic you're here for, just stay on that topic. And we're going to be respectful and We're going to avoid interrupting personal attacks, disruptive behavior, any inflammatory language. So just say cussing like they do in the South. So anybody here sign up to speak publicly? Now this has nothing to do with public hearings. That's in our regular meeting. So if y'all are signed up to...

Are you here about one of the public hearings?

That's not.

Sorry.

I just, I knew you had texted me.

So at our regular meeting at nine o'clock, I mean, excuse me, 10 o'clock, we're going to handle our planning and zoning cases, which a lot of people are here for. So that's when we handle that. So y'all going to get to take a little break because we're fixing to gavel this one out. We do have an executive session to go into. I think our attorney would be taking us into that. Yes, sir.

Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Oh, excuse me. Commissioner request.

Yes, I do. Okay. All right. I think it is important to recognize the complexity of Baldwin County's planning and zoning process. Unlike many, if somebody can find one similar, let me know. But unlike many local governments, we operate within a unique framework that includes citizen established zoning districts. We have, um, a future land use map and a master plan that is currently being updated. We've been talking about the update for quite some time and it's getting close, but we're not there yet. And I feel like that because of that complexity, that decisions regarding rezoning requests can have long-term. implications beyond just one single piece of property. And as we work towards completing updates to our planning documents, I believe it is reasonable to consider a temporary pause on zoning applications to ensure that future decisions are consistent with the framework that we're in the process of establishing. This is not, and I repeat about stopping growth. It is not about anti-development. It is about making sure that growth decisions are made thoughtfully consistently. and with the benefit of updated planning guidance. I feel like that when we continue to see rezoning applications, when we're in the process of updating these maps, I think the maps are the thing that are the hardest thing to digest for me. I know Commissioner Gruber has expressed same sentiment I'm not speaking for him I've just heard him in open public meetings and I know that we're getting close but I know that we're also at a crossroads at this Commission we have a new Commission coming in in five months and I think that we need to be very cautious because any type of rezoning that we do now has long-term implications for our County and I would propose that you guys consider a five-month moratorium on any new zoning cases that would come in. If there's something already in the pipeline, we'd need to know how many of those are and get those completed. But anything new, I would ask you to strongly consider a five month moratorium. This is completely within the confines of the law. It's not like other moratoriums that we've been asked to do that. We do not have clear guidance as to whether we can do it or not. And I would appreciate any feedback you have. This is an open public meeting doesn't violate any of the open

meetings acts and so either i'll hear crickets or i'll hear something could we um consider that as a six month instead of the five months absolutely i think that's that would probably be the most appropriate way to do it you know it gives us gives us plenty of time to look over our new plan and make sure you know that everything kind of fits and we'll be able to judge the forthcoming zoning request by a new instrument that we've been working on for quite some time. And I want to thank planning for all the hard work they put into getting this new master plan. We have been talking about it, talking about it, and I think it's time that we move forward with that and get that taken care of. You know, it's important. You know, we've had a lot of criticism about our plan, so And I think maybe it's time to go ahead and do that because I know the master plan is right on the verge of being. and give us time for the public to look at it, for us to look at it, so that we get it right this time. It's just something we need to do. And it's all part of planning. Planning does not stay the same. You have to move with the curves that come about. Everything changes. So I think, you know, this would be one of, golly, maybe the second moratorium that I've been involved in, or maybe the first moratorium. I can't remember, but it's for a good cause. And we're not, this is not punishing anybody, but it's giving us time to set the parameters. What I've been hearing is, you know, that, you know, we need to look at it. We need to look at it. Well, we're going to take a look at it.

So what is the six months going to do?

It's going to give us time to look at the plan and implement that plan so that, you know, so it can give these upcoming projects time, you know, to review these as well as complying with that plan.

Can I have staff please come up and address this because I need, or y'all can do it from there. I need one more thing.

I just want to clarify that this is not anything except for zoning cases. This is not subdivision cases because those would be only relevant if they're already in a, an area, if it's zone that is suitable for what they want or if it's in an unzoned area.

So can I say something real quick, Mr. Chairman, what I'm hearing is, is that what we have in working, I wanna hear what's the next step in play. I don't know, I mean, we've been doing it for a while and I thought it's been working pretty good. Maybe I'm just naive to the fact that our staff does a wonderful job on this kind of stuff. So I just, I would like to hear from either Frank or Jay to tell me, is this something that y'all feel like that we need to do? Can we handle this? How many things that we got in the pipeline that is going to be affected by this? You know, just give us some. I don't let Commissioner McKenzie ask his question as well, but that's just what I wanted to ask as well because it's kind of a new subject for all of us.

No, go ahead. Go ahead, and I'll ask you later if you don't mind.

Okay. Yes, sir. Commissioner y'all well know y'all have authorized the, the staff to work on a zoning ordinance update that that's voted on a few months ago. That process is in the works. Jay and his team has done a really good job. We've got that pretty well buttoned up as a draft format to be able to present to y'all in the public. And also the master plan update that's been ongoing for a while. Y'all have authorized that update as we it's no secret. The future land use map has been problematic. That's no secret there. Jay and his team, along with some resources, have done a really good job of putting a draft version of that. I've reviewed it. We have begun reviewing that with stakeholders individually, and that process is underway. So we've made really good progress of having these documents revised that you all have authorized. and those are going to be relayed to the public in a public fashion at the next planning commission meeting both of these documents will be relayed especially the future land use map at the july 14th road and bridge meeting it is on schedule and we've made it aware that there would that be a lengthy meeting if anyone's listening here that it's a good one to tune into The future land use map draft will be presented publicly at that meeting along with several other key planning documents. So we're well underway of getting these documents revised, which will be your tools. Now, staff is not recommending necessarily the moratorium. It is absolutely something that we could work either way. And Commissioner Underwood is right that it is definitely within the confines of the law. This isn't applicable. if there's applicable time to do a moratorium, this would fit the mold while we're transitioning and updating these planning documents. But it's not something that staff is requesting, but we, we are absolutely, um, able and, and can, can go either direction here, whatever the will of the commission body is.

I guess my question is, is that six months, you know, I've been on a commission three and a half years, almost four years now, and we haven't done anything. This is the first time I've heard that we could do this. And we got an issue up in the north part of the county where they wanted a moratorium, but that's totally different than what this is. I get it. But you know what? It doesn't look good if we do some type of moratorium right now when these people up there in the north, they've been asking us to look into it. So for me, no.

Well, thank you. I'd like to just say there's a, there's a big difference between the two. I mean, one is there's the legality of it, but what I'm looking at is legal and we can, we can do it. The other, you know, we still haven't got the attorney general's opinion on it yet until we do that. You know, I don't want to stick my head out there and say, well, we're going to have a more time on it. And then the journey general says, no, uh, We just that one is a little bit different from what we're talking about.

It is It is different, you know, I mean, but the optics doesn't look as good that we didn't help those people up there We're gonna put something down here.

I just thought I just it's not a matter of up here or down there it's a matter of What's good for the whole county? I mean, and this will affect that part of the county as well.

Say you put a moratorium on it for six months. What's going to happen to staff when all these rezoning cases come in, bam, and they're going to have about 100 of them?

Well, they'll be able to review them, and we'll get some of these taken care of.

Then the new commission is going to be like, why did y'all do that?

They can extend it if they want.

Okay. Y'all said my piece.

I'd just like to say one more thing since I'm the one that brought this up. I did ask for a moratorium and nobody was interested in it. Um, maybe nobody remembers it, but I did. And it was, I knew that it was valid to ask for that. Anytime you are updating your regulations or anything like that, it is absolutely a time that you can do that. But I know that this is a political body and I know that staff is not going to, um, you know, go one way or another because it can go one way or another. We can keep on proving things without having I mean, we have five cases today and I'm not going to talk about all five of those cases up here right now, but I have spent hours going over every one of these and I have all kinds of notes and you know what? Almost every one of them in there says it's not consistent with the flume or it's somewhat consistent or something like that. And so the flume is one of the biggest things that I am not going to rush into approving Future land-use map without looking it over really good this next time. So that's where I'm at You guys can keep doing it But it doesn't mean that somebody can keep paying money and can keep applying and maybe it'll be a three to one But I'm just telling you that there's a lot of problems with The map No, we think we're ever get it, right It can always be improved.

I'm confused as to what we've been doing, like you said, for the last four years, much less the last eight years for me, where we have always been told these things that y'all provide for us, maps and all that stuff is a guide. It's not a law. It's not something we have to follow by the book. And we have never done it. We've rezoned so many things that was against future land use maps. We've denied rezoning cases that were perfect for the future land use maps. Those things have been told to us it just doesn't matter because it's a guide and it's the only thing y'all got to go by because we took everything else away from you the way we used to do it and now we've got the scorecard system in place. Nobody can understand it. It's complex and You know, if you get a really high score on something, it gets voted down. You get a really low score on something, it gets voted in. So I'm commending y'all for working on something else. I just don't see where it's been broken this long without, you know, bringing it up. And I don't understand why it's being brought up now, but that's just my comment on it. I don't know what we do from here. Is this going to be put on an agenda to vote for, or are we going to...

Well, it sounds like it's a two, two right now. So why bring it onto it a vote? I mean, that's a no. So let it go, but be this be known that, that we do have that responsibility. And I know that everybody that ran for County commission again, even the ones that are on the ballot today. and the people that are coming in and the seats that are being vacated, what was the thing that everybody harped on? Responsible growth, responsible guided growth. So how do you guide growth without a guide? And yes, it's not regulatory. Why in the world would we be rezoning stuff all the time if we 100% went by it? And it doesn't mean that there'll never be another opportunity to rezone something, but We have such a complicated system. If somebody in the room can tell me another one in the country that's like this, I'd like to know because I don't know of one. There's a few counties in the state of Alabama, but we're one of the fastest growing counties in the entire country. And we are strapped with a state that is super private property rights driven. And I appreciate that. But I do feel like that we are sometimes shooting from the foot. I think our staff does a fantastic job. This is not no push off on them, but I guess I've had my say. So thank you.

Any other commissioners with requests? All right. Senior staff. I always laugh when I say that because there's no disrespect for age in that term. County attorneys.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would recommend the commission adopt a motion to adjourn this work session and convene an executive session to discuss with your attorney. the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation controversies not yet being litigated but imminently likely to be litigated or imminently likely to be litigated if the governmental body pursues a proposed course of action. I'm an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Alabama and this exception is applicable to the planned discussion and after the vote just announced that we will not reconvene the work session and we will see everybody at 10 o'clock.

I'll make a motion we go into executive session.

Motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All right, and we will not reconvene until the next meeting. Garcia with Celebration Church of Fairhope to give us our invocation, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner Gruber. Come on up, Pastor. If y'all would please stand.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the many blessings in bringing us here today. As we begin this meeting, we ask for your wisdom, your guidance, and your direction. Help us to be good stewards with all the stuff that you've entrusted with us today, Lord. Make the decisions to honor you and serve others well. We thank you for what you're doing in us and through us, Lord. In your name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Please join me in a pledge.

All right, good morning. Welcome to our Tuesday, June 16th regular commission meeting. We will start off today by Adopting our minutes, if you would, Commissioner Gruber, because I know you're going to make this motion, just read right there what's in the red print so we can get that on the record.

Okay. As prior to adoption of the June 22, 2026 meeting minutes, correct? For the record, the account number listed in Resolution 2026-096, Agenda Item Number CE8, for capital improvements transferred in from fund 100 and contract services and commissioning contingency. So with that being said, I'll make a motion now that we adopt the minutes.

And I'll second it.

Got a motion and a second to adopt those minutes with the corrected change. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye.

Okay.

Commissioner Gruber.

Okay, Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we pay the bills totaling $16,084,024.06. And this report includes 606 invoices and distributions. Commissioners, y'all heard the motion. I'll second it.

Got a second. Um, so we got a motion and a second to pay the bills. It's always a good things to do paying our bills. So, um, I don't think y'all have any discussion on that. So, uh, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.

Mr. Chairman also, uh, I'd like to make a motion and that we, uh, according to ratify the interim payments as followed, uh, allowed by policy number 8.1. And this report includes 61 invoices and a distribution of $3,388,870.29. All right, commissioners. I'll second it.

The motion is second for the ratification of interim payments as allowed by policy 8.1. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. And then, commissioners, we preach to adopt our consent agenda. And just note for the records, items GA1, GA2, and GA3 have been added to this when you make your motion.

I make a motion that we approve our consent agenda, adding GA1, GA2, and GA3 to the consent.

I'll second it.

Got a motion and a second. Any further discussion?

Hearing none, all those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. We have adopted the rest of the whole packet of stuff y'all got there, so that's how we do it at the work session, so. Um, so next up we're at our presentation section.

I don't think we have any presentations today to my knowledge.

Um, if there's any that's come up, let me know. Public hearings. Uh, this is our section where we're dealing with, um, a few different types of cases. They, we've got a highway case that, um, you know, that we'll deal with first and then we'll get into our PNC cases. And, uh, when we get into these cases, Again, there's some guidelines for our public hearings and public speakers. Everybody that's wishing to speak on a case that they must have signed up with our staff in the back, and I'll be giving the names of anybody wishing to speak. Anybody that's here to speak on behalf of yourself, you'll be allowed three minutes to give your spiel on either the for or against a piece of property. And then if you are here as a spokesperson for a group, you're going to get five minutes to speak on your subject matter. And you know, I'm not, you know, if you hear the timer go off and you're in mid sentence and stuff, we're not, I'm just not going to stop you and you'll get a few more seconds to kind of wrap it up that you'll hear that timer go off. And, um, and, and it's time to wrap up the conversation. So, uh, just when you're stating your case, come up here, you say your name, your address, where you're from here in Baldwin County, and I stay on topic. maintain the proper decorum in our in our facility here and then be respectful avoid interrupting personal attacks disruptive behavior and bad language all right so uh with that being said mr ackerman mr chairman do you mind if i say something there's can y'all there's some seats up front if y'all want to sit up front with the child you're okay go ahead mr chairman i'm sorry all right

All right, thank you. This morning, I'm going to present to you guys case number VAC-26-1, which is a request to vacate a 6.7-foot-wide, unopened, unimproved right-of-way that originates at County Road 1 and extends to Mobile Bay. We received a request from the adjacent property owners, Todd Gerald and Gerald Thomas Taylor IV and Deborah Taylor II, Uh, to vacate the said 6.7 foot right away, uh, as per section 23 dash four dash two and section 23 dash four dash 20 of the code of Alabama in 1975, uh, for this body to consider the vacation of this right away, a public hearing must be held and 30 days prior to that public hearing advertising for said public hearing must be have taken place. Uh, staff has completed the 30 day advertisement for this public hearing. And this body is free to consider the, this resolution upon completion of the public hearing staff does recommend, uh, that this application be denied based on policy number 9.2, one, which establishes the county's policy of preserving public water access and rights away, terminating at bodies of water for public use and provides it requests by joining riparian property owners to vacate such rights away shall be denied. And this is a county policy that has been adopted by this body. With that, I'll be glad to answer any questions before we move to the public hearing.

I have a question. Is it open to the public right now where people can walk down?

Yes, sir. There is nothing that is currently blocking this. The applicant, a couple years ago, took possession of the property and there was an obstruction and they did move it and was very cooperative with the staff.

Do we have signs that says public access?

No, sir. We do not advertise for this public access. Okay.

Is there any reason why we don't, I didn't mean to throw you under the bus on that question, but is there any reason why we don't let the public know that they can walk down there to the water, use it?

No, other than these accesses are common in this particular subdivision. There are several of these throughout the subdivision, and we just do not like to necessarily advertise public accesses if we don't currently maintain them. so this is unopened and it's not currently maintained by the county.

Is it sometime in the near future maybe the new commission when they come on maybe they can work it out where they can maintain it where we can have access because that was that was something my dad was very involved with Commissioner Samuel Jenkins back in the I think early early 90s was to have those open to the public where they can walk to the beach. And be recognized and to you know, say what kind of what's the name of it?

Is it that the neighbors don't want you walking past the house?

I think that's what it does go right adjacent to two property owners, which I would imagine that would be a concern That's what they're worried But if it's the will of the Commission to manifest the public access then it shouldn't be their concern, right?

Yeah, that's right Well, we have numerous public accesses all over the county and not just in this area but all over that are not advertised not maintained just like we have yes on open right-of-ways all other kind of things like this well i understand those but the ones don't like to the water you know we have lots of water access i mean do you even have an idea of how many counts we have it's a lot it is a lot yes there's a lot down in the josephine area that people have requested and it's just you know

I'm just saying my question was maybe in the future that we can maintain it where people can walk to the beach and enjoy it and know that because the people that have all these houses down there, it's just, anyway, that's all I want to do in the near future. I should have brought that under my request earlier.

As a rule of the commission, we will absolutely consider it.

It doesn't look like, I mean, by that picture there, it doesn't look like there's a whole heck of a lot of places for people to park a car either. No, you can't. There's no public parking.

This would be pedestrian-only.

People walking down the sidewalk.

That's right.

All right, so are you done with your presentation? You got any more questions or comments for Mark? All right. Thank you. Thank you. So I'll open up the public hearing on this case, VAC slash 26-1. Do I have anybody signed up to speak on this case? Yes, sir. Just come up here and state your name and where you're from.

Good morning. My name is Austin Gerald. I live in Mobile, but my parents, Ann and Todd Gerald, own the lot at 10551 County Road 1, adjacent to the small alley being considered. I'm here today to advocate for the alley's vacation because it stands as more of a public safety and maintenance liability than as an asset for public enjoyment. To prepare for today's hearing, I watched a few recent meetings of the commission online. During a May meeting, Commissioner Underwood made some comments which stood out to me. She said, people don't know what they don't know, but they can know it if they will look for the answers, it's out there. I spent some time looking for answers about the right of way. I reviewed policy 9.21 and sections of the state code. The commission may vacate this alley. Yes, a partial reading of 9.21 prohibits the vacation before you, yet that policy also grants the commission the right to waive the policy and vacate this right of way as state law prescribes and as I believe the public interest supports. This alley is not a road right away. An average parking space is eight and a half to nine feet wide. This alley is 6.7 feet wide. Of note, there is no convenient place to park, to access the alley, and a car could not proceed down the alley to the bay while easily staying within the alley's bounds. The alley's narrowness also makes maintaining it a challenge the county could forego by opting to vacate. Consider trash. The proximity of the alley to the bay elevates the risk of trash building up and falling into the bay. right-of-way is not a convenient means of public water access to mobile bay the alley is not marked it's not easily visible to untrained eyes and the plat map is unclear on its intended use and gives it no name the public as a whole does not and would not benefit from continued county ownership of the right-of-way at present only a small section of the public who are privy to the alley's existence benefit from it now and in the future an access to the bay this small may attract those looking to conduct their business or misbehavior away from the exposure larger public spaces ensure. Vacation would increase the difficulty of misbehaving on county property. The nearness of this alley to both Mary Ann Beach Park and Pelican Point means that nearby property owners nor the public at large would be deprived of reasonable access to the bay by this vacation. My family looks forward to the day the county can finish the paved sidewalk along County Road 1 all the way to Pelican Point. Today's resolution would generate revenue, which could be invested in that sidewalk or other projects in the works. I encourage the commission to bolster policy 9.21 by approving today's resolution. Approving the resolution to vacate would not undermine the policy, but utilize the policy's inherent flexibility. A waiver would reinforce to all the commission's constituents to go look for the answers. Thank you.

Thank you. Y'all have any questions?

Okay.

Thank you, sir. Anybody else sign up to speak on this matter? Hearing none, public hearing is closed. Commissioners?

I do have a question for staff. We do have a lot of these. I have no idea how many the number is, but I do know that once we vacate something, if we ever wanted to desire or use it, then we've never been given favorable price tag to get something back. And so, um, this does belong to the people. It doesn't belong to us for people up here, even though we're part of the people. But I will ask the question that is this being maintained by private citizens or is it because if it's not being maintained, people wouldn't know to use it.

I guess you would say the, um, It is adjacent to their property, so I would assume that it's getting mowed, it's getting trimmed at the same time they maintain their property. The county resources have not maintained it, but it does appear to be mowed.

But normally when someone maintains someone else's property, I mean, I know I mow the ditch by my house, which is a right-of-way, but if it's something that's causing a nuisance or something, you know, for people to be walking down to the water and using that property, if it weren't being maintained, I don't think people would be doing that. I, that's just a crazy notion that popped up in my head while I was sitting up here, but I just, just curious about that. You know, I mean, cause I mean, we're not out maintaining all these places.

That's correct. Commissioner. And as you alluded to earlier, there are. numerous, likely hundreds of these throughout the county that connect to waterways all over from Josephine, all up to the bay and Lillian area, all the way up the Eastern shore. I mean, they're all over this county and they were set out for public use. And a lot of, you know, some of these have been in place for like this one for many, many, many years. I'm not aware of this location having ever been a problem spot as a nuisance. So, you know, we, some areas are more prone to that than others. We're not aware of this, Location haven't been a problem.

Okay.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we deny the request I'll second it You got a motion in the second to deny all those in favor signify by saying aye All right next up are our planning and zoning cases I

Mr. Chairman, if I may, we have applicants on three different cases here today that have requested to be tabled.

Okay.

You want to take care of those up front?

Yes, sir.

Okay, so we have the first one would be case ES1, which is Z2553, the Goodrich property. The second one is ES3 and ES4, which are tied together as Z2562, the Morgan property rezoning, and PRD2509, the Bridal Creek PRD conceptual site plan approval. Okay. Those three, since they're inside the seven days of the public hearing, has to come before the body for you guys to accept their tabling.

What was the third one?

ES4, which is case PRD 2509, Bridal Creek Planned Residential Development.

Okay. Have we tabled those before?

Do you remember? Some of them we have. I believe the Goodrich property, the ES1 has been tabled before. The others have been tabled before.

Is this a table or a withdrawal?

It has to be tabled. Okay.

And if it's tabled, what is the time frame? 60 days?

Well, no. Since we have not opened the public hearing on the cases yet, there's no time frame. Okay. Yeah.

Commissioners, what do you all want to do?

I'll vote that we table them. Okay. I mean, I'll make a motion that we table them.

Okay. Motion to table. Motion.

Is that a second, Commissioner? Yep. Okay, got a motion and a second to table these three items. All right. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say what I'm saying, aye. Aye. Okay, so we have tabled these three items, so anybody that was here today to speak on these, you have to come back another day. So this will be case number Z2553, the Goodrich property rezoning. Case ESZ2562, the Morgan property rezoning. And Case PRD2509, the Bridal Creek planned residential development. If y'all are here for those, you can sit around for the rest of all of these, or you're free to leave. Just want to make it easy on everybody. A lot of people are here in uniform. Probably for some of these cases, I'm going to go back to work and whatever y'all got to do.

Who's meeting?

That means they've tabled there. They'll bring it back at another time. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Let me check real quick, Selena. So how many people, do you know how many people that wiped off the speaker list? All right, so, they'll be back. All right guys, I need a little bit of quietness in here so we can keep conducting business. Selena?

Okay. All right, the next case is the Sweetwater Investments property. They are requesting a rezoning and they are in Planning District 39. The subject property is located east of State Highway 181 and south of County Road 32. It is currently zoned RSF 1 single family. It has been requested that they rezone to RSF 2. The property consists of 29 acres and is currently used agriculturally. And the rezoning request is for residential use. Here are the surrounding properties. On the locator map, you can see to the west, there is some RSF2. To the north of the subject property is some B1 and B2, which is commercial zoning. To the east is RA, rural agricultural. And to the south, there is some BCZ and also some RSF2. Most of these uses in the area are residential. All right, so the subject property consists of 29 acres and is currently zoned RSF1 single family. A RSF2 has been requested to allow for residential use. The surrounding areas located southeast and west of the property are primarily residential with denser residential areas. denser residential zoning to the west and less dense residential to the rural zoning east of the subject property. The FLU map shows this area primarily as agricultural rural and low impact development. The subject property appears to be in transition area between a high density residential and a commercially zoned properties to the northwest. and lower density residential and rural zone properties to the southeast. Furthermore, much of the subject property is in a neighborhood center node, which allows for a mix of retail and service uses that meets the needs of the community, leading to a more walkable and compact design layout. Um, here's the flu map. You can see most of it is rural agricultural, uh, low impact development area. And it's also located in a neighborhood center node. Um, staff has, uh, requested the zoning map, excuse me, the zoning map amendment would be consistent with the factors. within the Ballin County Zoning Ordinance and is consistent with the Ballin County Clean Map. And our scorecard strongly supports this rezoning request. Do y'all have any questions?

We don't have any questions for you, Selena, so I'm gonna open the public hearing on this case. This is case number Z25 slash 55, Sweetwater Investments Property. Has anybody signed up to speak on this? Yes, Jessica McNeil. Okay.

Come on up, Jessica.

I hear a vote.

Good morning commissioners.

I am signed up to speak in opposition of this request on behalf of the Radcliffe family. The Radcliffe family owns the 70 acres lying adjacent and east of this land where they have lived for many years and they also own an operating agricultural farm right there at their homestead. There's a private 60-foot road that provides access to this property as well as the Radcliffe property, as well as the properties to the south and the east, all of which are either large home sites, when I say large, 10 acres or above. and or working farms, so it's in agricultural use. The Radcliffs are not anti-development. The Radcliffs are home builders, and so this rezoning is a little bit different than some that you're hearing regularly and that were discussed in the work session. This parcel is zoned RSF1, and zoning is not very old in the Barnwell District 39. And this parcel was zoned RSF1 after very lengthy conversation and specific approval by this commission because of the acceptance and acknowledgement and foreseeable planning when they were doing that. It was obvious that it was more likely than not going to become residential property. and to fit the character of that community, RSF1 was deemed the most appropriate, and it still is. This case has been before you now, I think at least three times in less than two years, or maybe more closely to to one year. The reason it's not compatible with the community in District 39 to go to RSF2 is the size of the lots. Although there is some RSF2 adjacent to the west on the highway, those lots, the smallest one is 24,000 square foot versus what you would have as a minimum RSF2 lot. addition it does not conform to the flume the flume for this area is large open space large Lots further section nineteen point one five of your zoning ordinance heavily discourages speculative rezoning And what you have here is a rote speculative rezoning request. There is no PRD. There is no plan. It is just we want to go from RSF1 to RSF2. And so because of that, the zoning ordinance would indicate disapproval of this is appropriate, and we do too. In addition, the timing and development trends here for this property are not ripe. for a rezoning. If I'm correct, I went back and looked at all the parcels adjacent that have changed use since zoning was adopted there, and there's only been, I believe, two, and that is the addition of a home on a 10-acre parcel that the Porter family lives on, which is situated south of Happy Trails Drive, and the vineyard that was opened to the north, and I think that might have started out as, I call it the brown one, community zoning, but not real sure about that, but that that's, those are the only two choices.

In addition, some more time because you're speaking on behalf of a family. So thank you a couple more minutes.

Um, in addition, there's a special requirement in district 39 that requires a traffic impact study. When you're requesting a rezoning that will. implicate either, it's either 50 or 75 more trips a day. To this applicant, no such traffic study has been provided to my knowledge. In addition, you've got the head of Green Branch bisecting this property and your applicant has provided nothing to the commission for a PRD or other development that addresses that environmentally sensitive area or the project in general. And so I'll wrap this up. with a summary that on behalf of the Radcliffe family, we request denial of this rezoning.

Thank you so much. Y'all have any questions for Jessica?

Jessica, the question that I have with the entrance, that Happy Trails Drive, that's the only way they can get down there or to the property, correct?

That is correct. That is their only adjacent connection to the public road.

And is that part of the RSF one that, that right away or that easement or whatever is going through there and the families down there have, um, uh, I guess an easement or right away or a maintenance agreement or something. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out because I was a lot of those people have asked me about that and they're still trying to find out.

Yes, sir. The entire parcel is zoned RSF1. There is a 60-foot private easement, which is Happy Trails Drive. It's got a blue sign on it. So it's privately maintained, and it provides access to all those operating farms. And they've also got a bridge in there that the people who use the easement and hold that right, they privately maintain.

Okay. Thank you. That's all I have.

Commissioner, is there any more questions for Jessica?

right thank you jessica thank you for your consideration who's next all right dwayne good morning commissioners uh dwayne smith anchor engineering uh 9940 bromley road um i appreciate of Jessica's comments and everything but I want to go over a few of her points the the r2 lights right next were basically carved out of this parcel whenever they were developed they are yes they are 24,000 square feet the reason they have to be r2 is they don't meet the minimum width requirements of our one as for speculative zoning there's nothing speculative about the zoning it's It's fully intended to be developed. We have a layout. However, we didn't think it was necessary to bring the layout. This is not a request to increase density. That seems to be what comes up all the time. This is merely a request for minimum lot size requirements within the county. So from a density intent... and respect, we are only looking at about 1.2 lots per acre. So it's less than RSF1 Disney. So this is compatible, I would say, with surrounding across the street. You have a lot of R2, R3, R4. So it is contiguous with a lot of zoning and on 181, excuse me, the Happy Trails Drive too. Part of this would be to maintain the easement that currently exists. As part of this development, there would be no impact to Happy Trails Drive as part of the development. So we feel it's very compatible with the area. We're not trying to bring a lot of new density to the area where we are doing the... uh, reduction in density as you go towards the rural agriculture land. Uh, and also, and you know, with regard to, uh, the traffic study, the proposed development won't trigger. The need for a traffic study of 75 trips per hour increase. I think we're looking at a neighborhood of 50 trips per hour on peak hour traffic study based upon the development. And environmental impacts at this point, we don't know that there will be any to Headwater Branch. Yes, Headwater Branch goes across the property, but there's no planned impacts at this point. Sorry.

Any questions? All right, thank you, Dwayne. Thank you. Has anyone else signed up to speak on this? Okay. Is there anybody here that did not sign up to speak on this case that wished to speak? All right. So the public hearing is closed.

Mr. Commissioner, excuse me, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we deny this request.

Got a motion to deny. I'll second that. Got a second by Commissioner Gruber. Any further discussion?

I did want to point out that of the zoning cases that we had today, based on the current volume and the master plan, this is the only one that received consistent, consistent, and a scorecard of 25 out of 40.

So we got a motion to deny, a second by Commissioner Gruber.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed?

Opposed.

3-1. All right. Next up, we have Case Z26-15. I don't know how ever you say that. Property, Rezone, and Petrius?

Peturus.

Peturus. Excuse me. Peturus. Peturus. Rezone. Peturus. I slept my bed. All right. You ready? I'm ready.

All right. This is another request for rezoning. The Pateras property is located in Planning District 15. It's south of County Road 54 and west of County Road 49. It's currently zoned RA, rural agriculture, and the applicant is asking for RSF2, residential single family. The property is approximately 113 acres, and the current use, well, the applicant has requested the rezoning for residential use. Here's pictures of the surrounding properties. Here is the locator map. You can see to the north of the subject property, it is zoned RSF1. To the west is a little bit of RSF2 and RSFE. And then to the south and east is RA, Rural Agricultural. The FLUM map shows this area as rural agricultural low impact development with some moderate development potential area. The FLUM with having the subject property as partly rural low impact development and moderate potential development, the moderate does allow for the rural zoning and the RSF1 and RSF2. The subject property and surrounding areas are low density residential development or rule. There is an adjacent subdivision to the west of the subject property which existed before Planning District 15 adopted their zoning map in 2006. So staff has determined that the requested zoning map amendment would be somewhat consistent with the factors in the zoning ordinance. It is partially consistent with the Baldwin County Master Flu Map, and the scorecard somewhat supports this request.

Thank you, Celina. Are there any questions for Celina? Okay. I'll open the public hearing. In this case, anybody signed up to speak? Chris Hadley. Chris Hadley. As Chris Hadley in the room. Hey, anybody else? Hunter Smith.

Good morning. Good morning. I'm Hunter Smith with Smith Clark and associates. We're land surveyors. Um, the. Development here and the request is made to allow for the family This was a farm and the family has taken this part of the property out of the rotation for farming and they would like to sell the property. So we're here to request a rezoning so that it's more marketable for the sale of the property.

Any questions?

Thank you so much.

Anybody else on this case? Yes, sir. If you don't mind, just state your name. My name is Gordon Baker. Yes, sir.

I live at 234 Cornerstone Drive.

Are you speaking for or against?

For myself, for the subdivision.

Okay.

At this point, we're going to have a traffic impact on that 54 in front of our home. Number two, we have Dixon Lane that borders between our home and the property. This is gonna impact us and put three lanes of traffic on my corner lot. I'll have Dixon Lane, 54, and then Cornerstone in front of my home. This will impact us greatly, all of our neighbors on that side, unless we are guaranteed that Dixon Lane is not gonna be paid and used as a through fare for any emergency exit or anything on that subdivision.

Do y'all have any questions?

Thank you for your time, but it's going to be a lot of impact. It's going to be 15 to 200, 1500 to 2000 cars per day. If they put the homes in there, they want, right. And it's going to cover 49, one Oh four and 54. Yes, sir. That kind of impact is going to impact all of us. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Anybody else? I saw another gentleman maybe wanted to come and speak.

Yes sir, come on up.

Good morning. Good morning. My name's Phillip Owens. I'm an architect. I'm a general contractor, lifelong resident of Baldwin County. Got a real estate license. I've developed, I've designed projects, I've built projects, I've sold property for projects. There's nobody any more development-minded and pro-development than I am. However, This project, the project Bridal Creek on the other side of the river, I live on River Road South on the west side of Fish River. Both of these high density, I mean, you have a plan, you have a zoning map, you have density that's there for a reason. It's right right now. It's one to three acres in that area, one acre to three acre per dwelling in that area. It's... It's Italian farmland, it's agricultural. As a planter, we should be developing the higher density towards the city centers and growing out from there, not spot zoning in the center of an agricultural area, dropping four houses per acre on any of these developments. I'm opposed to the high density residential developments like this and high density zoning. I feel like the zoning plan, the long reach plan, they're there for a purpose. I commend the efforts for a moratorium. I think that would have been right. I have a project Gulf Shores that just got put on a moratorium I was aggravated about it, but the clients and the people, they backed off and said, you know, it's the right thing to do. Gulf Shores did it because they're widening the highway. They're trying to catch up with the planning. And as long as you and your staff are catching up with the growth and using that time for that, then I think the moratoriums are a good thing. The roads, the two-lane roads out there in the middle of the county, they can't support 600 houses dumped right in the central Baldwin County all at one time. They can't handle that. The drainage, although we're right here on the Fish River watershed, the engineers would argue with me all day long, I can't prove it, but you know they'll in theory on paper it works it always does work but i've seen them fail and and then when you have that you know you can design to that 100 year but then when you have that that event that dumps more than it can handle, then all of a sudden we've got a disaster on our hands because of development. And again, the engineers say they can prove it, they can document it, but I've seen it go the other way. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Anybody else wishing to speak on this one? Come on up.

Hi, my name is Shannon Harden, and I live at 23382 Cornerstone Drive, and I just wanted to, I didn't plan on speaking, so I'm sorry I didn't do it correctly, but I just want to say I'm against it. A lot of my neighbors that are going to be right along that are against it. It's also, like you said, the draining. We already have problems, and we're straight up on like a valley. We're at the top, and we already have major like drainage problems in our neighborhood that are that will get worse if they start building right behind us. And that is a private road. People already try to use it. There's not enough room. When you go down it, everybody there is private land. Everybody there is private property. If someone tries to go down, you can't even turn around. I can see dump trucks coming through here. If they start building, it's always been farmland. It's surrounded by farmland. We are a very small one street neighborhood that's been there for over almost 30 years now. I've lived there for almost 28 years. My mother, plenty of people are in here. We're all against it. A lot of us did not sign up to speak. We weren't sure how this worked, but we do want to let you know it's going to cause, and there's power lines. I don't even know how you can build when you have major, huge power lines running through the whole property. So they're going to have to shove them on this little spot, and they're going to be, like he said, just little houses all through there. We all have about at least three-quarters of an acre to an acre of property each one. That's just in my little subdivision, and then everybody else's bigger properties because mainly it's been farmland all these years. So we just already have a lot of problems with people trying to come through there, and it's going to cause a lot on that private road. They aren't even supposed to be able to use it. So, but I have a good feeling when they start building, if they do, that's exactly the road they're going to try to start using as an access to get to the back of those properties with dump trucks, because my fiance owns a dump truck company, so I know what's fixing to happen, and it's going to tear everything up out there. And so we're just all against it, and I just want you all to be aware of that.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for your time. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning.

I'm Kimberly Krebs. I live across the street from this subdivision with 20 acres. Um, I'm also a realtor here in Baldwin County. And I know that the guy, the guys, I bought my land from the . So very good family. Um, my biggest concern is a school. And I know y'all hear this every day. So real can't handle. Too much more. We have Bell Forest getting the other 300 houses across the river. But, you know, mostly I'm not against, you know, of course I'm a realtor, but I'm not against development at all. What I'm kind of against is three houses, four houses per acre. We all, I mean, if you look at the map, we all own property, except for our great little subdivision, Cornerstone Ridge, which we all work well together. But everybody has, let's just say, five acres up to 20, 60 acres, and that's around an area. So my thing would be is they've come to propose this with no platform, nothing. I mean, no, nothing that, what are they going to do? You know, and like they said, I mean, it's 113 acres, several, several acres. I mean, I would say probably 10 acres is power lines or there's a wet watershed that goes through there from the other side of the road. But also, I mean, I've been there for 23 years, 22 years. Fish River has flooded five times without development. So you're looking at that, it has not been corrected anywhere. So that's kind of a concern to us. Also, there's two historic houses with big properties. Hallie Dixon's mom and dad's old place. It's right behind this. I mean, a gorgeous, gorgeous place back there. They're gonna have to drive by 300 houses to get to this if it's approved for this. So I mean, I would not be opposed to doing something with larger lots. Even an acre lot would be better than four per acre. And I think that's what a lot of people in here are concerned. We're not against it. The pictures is you know selling and getting out of farming somewhat I totally I totally I mean, I'm okay with that. They have to make their money somewhere It's not in farming anywhere and me anymore But our biggest concern is is the amount of people is going to bring to the area of the schools the flooding Like they said Dixon Lane is just a little bitty line and I know it'll be turned into a big line to get in and out the two historic houses You know, and really, we bought there for property. I'm going to be selfish and just say that. We bought there to live in the county of Baldwin County and not to live in the town. So that's really our biggest concern. I've got two grandbabies back here. It's our second planning and zoning meeting in nine months. They voted twice in the last nine months. So that's my thing is I bought that for them, and I want it to be a family place. I mean, that's it. You know, I mean, we get, we get propositions every day for somebody wanting to buy our 20 acres. That's never going to happen. So quit sending me letters, you know? So anyway, but I mean, it's just one of those things we, we moved from Texas and 200 acres. We lived in Pensacola on nine mile road. If you know anything about nine mile road before nine mile road was. Busy. So when we decided to move to Baldwin county and start a business here, two businesses here, actually, it's what, that's what we come here for was land. So I'm not against it being an acre or bigger at all. I just don't want four houses per acre across from us. So I hope you consider that. Thank you.

We good? Yes. All right. Is there anybody else that wishes to speak for or against this piece of property? Close the public hearing.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we deny this request.

I'll second it.

Got a motion by Commissioner McKenzie to deny this request. A second by Commissioner Underwood. Any further discussion?

I would like to say, because I always like to give some kind of indication as to why I would approve or deny something, I think that's very fair to the public. I analyzed every one of these cases extensively, spent a lot of time, and this one, I know that know that the master plan and the flume are not regulatory but I know that they are therefore guiding and if they weren't then why do we have them so it's it clearly states that this is only somewhat supportive and when you look at the scorecard it's a 12 out of 40 not even not even half of being supportive so I just I you know, I know that at some point in time, these lands are probably going to be developed into something. And just to clarify, RSF two is a minimum of 15,000 square foot. So I don't think you could hardly get three out of, because acres is not 45,000, but just, Looking at when were these areas zoned, the county commission doesn't put this off on you and I have been one that has consistently said that zoning can be beneficial in high growth areas if it's fair and reasonable. Fair and reasonable is a very subjective measure. But this was zoned in August of 2006. It's not like it just knee jerked. And so I think that we need to be Mindful of some of that and I just that's my discussion on it All right Hearing no further discussion.

We have a motion and a second to deny all those in favor signify by saying aye aye four to zero unanimous motion to deny the case All righty. Well, that cleared out the room. So Ms. Salina, we'll let those nice people get out of here so we can hear what your fixers say next.

That's more than people who are going to vote. I should have told them to go vote now. It's raining, ain't it?

All right, Celine.

All right. This is the last rezoning request. Um, it's for GPS land company. The subject property is located in planning district 12, just on the west side of the ball and beach express and south of county road 64 and planning district 12. It is currently zoned R a and the applicant has requested that half of it be rezoned to RSF E and the other half are our rural district. It consists of four acres. Its current use is residential and the applicant is requesting these two rezonings for residential use and possible commercial use. Here's the subject property and the adjacent properties. Here's the locator map. You can see it's completely surrounded by RA zoning. And most of the uses in this area are agricultural and residential. This is a survey of the subject property where the applicant is proposing that parcel one be RSFE and parcel two be rezoned to RR, which each parcel would result in two acres. The FLU map shows this area as rural, agricultural, and low impact development. Most of the surrounding area consists of agricultural land and estate size lots. The closest area experiencing development is approximately a mile north to the interchange of I-10. So staff has determined that the requested zoning map amendment would be somewhat consistent with the factors in the zoning ordinance. It is consistent with the FLUME and it somewhat supports the request. If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer.

Any questions for Selena? Can you pull the back up? Sure. I should have brought my readers. I'm sorry. And that's south of Loxley? Where's that located?

Yes, it's just south of County Road 64. It's a mile south of Buc-ee's.

Yeah. All right, thank you.

all right no questions there's no other questions for our planning staff open the public hearing hang on just one second ma'am i'm going to give you that time i've got to open the public hearing up before you can do that so just give me just a second and uh you're gonna you're gonna be the first one up i promise okay um so i have opened the public hearing and um so who's first up come on up ma'am Yes, ma'am, come on to the microphone up here.

Hello. Good morning. Good morning. I live to the property adjacent to it, to the south. It's a wonderful, pristine, rural area. Since they built I-10, the Bottom Beach Express, it's the highway to hell in the front yard, really. Right. On my fourth mailbox. You're right. But I just hate to see it change. And I don't understand. I mean, this property has been up for sale for a while. It's got a beautiful house on it. I think it would lower the property value for if they build, I don't know what he's, I don't know what he's planning to do. I understand it's supposed to be for a one family residence, but how many one family residences, I mean, how many trailers can you fit or. whatever it is, and I wouldn't understand why anybody would want to move there anyway. I mean, the property's been up for sale like a year now. Nobody's bought it. But I just, you know, I've been there 40 years. The Ellisons, the rural agricultural people, have been there over 100 years. And it's going to raise the property taxes, I'm told. And then I just heard it'll be up for commercial sale. That's what the lady said. Possible commercial sale. I would definitely go against that. I don't want a gas station, right? Bad enough with Bucky's. I get pickup trash from Bucky's in my front yard all the time. Yeah. Probably Louisiana people, which I'm from Louisiana, but I just hope y'all, I really don't see the need for it except for maybe he hasn't sold the house. So he's looking for other reasons to, Make some income.

Is that it?

I guess. I'm just hoping y'all understand. Y'all have any questions for this nice young lady?

No, sir. All right. Thank you so much for your concerns and sharing those with us.

Yeah.

Thank you. Have a good day.

Yes, ma'am.

Commissioners. Good morning. Good morning. I will tell you, I'm a rookie at this. Uh, I'll preface my comments briefly. Uh, I'm really just here for questions, but your department over in Robertsdale has done a great job holding my hand because we sort of inherited this. We bought this property at a foreclosure proceeding at the courthouse steps up in Baymanette. Um, It was a disaster. We've spent $75,000 or $80,000 just cleaning up the grounds. We're way over budget in this, and her comments are very true, and I believe proves my point. We haven't been able to sell the house. Nobody will give us enough money for the house and four acres, because the house really does sit up close to Beach Express. So we've been trying to entice a buyer, and prior to me knowing about the rules and regulations here in the county with the three-in-one rule, we tried to sell the house an acre, and we couldn't. Tried to sell the house in four acres, we couldn't. Tried to sell the house with three acres, and we couldn't. We're in our second year on the market. We're south by 10. We're less than a mile from Buc-ee's, and as you know, anything south by 10 that's been on the market for two years, there's a problem. We are the suckers here, I guess. Without knowledge, we put the house on the market for under $500,000 with two acres and started getting some bites. And we actually got the house on the contract back in November. And we went through this process for five or six months until the person wanting the property, we got a notification from the lender, hey, I think we can make this work. Then we went to survey it and the civil engineer said, William, you can't do that. We got a three in one rule here. You're gonna have to have this rezone to be able to sell the house in two acres. So this is not high density. I'm not asking for high density anything. I just want to sell the house and I can't get anybody to give me enough money. If we were to sell the house for under half a million dollars, we would lose over $100,000. I got 580,000 in this. Brief background, the people that were ejected from the house were sovereign citizens. This place was a mess. There was multiple people living in campers there. It took us almost a year to get them out. She sued the Sheriff's Department for $9 million. She sued the judge for $2 million, of course lost. Then she used AI, went over to Mobile and filed a federal lawsuit against us. We had to hire Phelps Dunbar. I've got $65,000 in legal fees to defend in that case. She lost. We have a judgment against her for 30 or $35,000 we can't collect. We just want to sell the house. I just want to get away from this place. I'll be honest, my neighbor to the south right there, her and I have a great relationship. I'm not going to build a mini mall. I'm not going to build a gas station. I'm just really trying to offer the house and a little bit more than one acre to get a buyer there. We're back the previous year. um, contract that we had fell through. We're back on the market. And, um, so that, that's my situation here. Um, if you've got any questions or whatever, if I could sell the house in two acres, I'm going to retain ownership of the two acres to the north there. I guess it'd be parcel parcel two, maybe to the north. Yeah. I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it. I'm going to have over a hundred grand and two acres right there. I think that's enough, but, um, we're, uh, anyway, Kind of at your mercy, thank you. The department over here in Robertsdale did a great job. Corey Rhodes walked me through the whole process, and I don't know if she's here today. No. Okay. Well, anyway, I appreciate you guys. You did a great job. So, anyway, maybe this will be the only time you'll ever see me. That's it. That's all. Any questions?

That's sometimes a hard lesson to learn.

It really was. So, anyway.

Well, just know that we didn't do it.

No, you didn't know, but you could help me today. If somebody comes along and wants the house in three acres and we're willing to give us a little more money for it, we'll certainly give it to them. Um, but I, I think this is, um, really the, um, um, a way for us to just kind of move forward from this. And I'm not saying that I can even sell the house in two acres, but we have had some interest in it and, um, it would help us tremendously. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Anybody else?

Commission? Close the public hearing, Commission?

I just want to say that sometimes people buy things without understanding the area and financial is not a reason that we rezone things, unfortunately. It's based on use and I just want to clarify that. If that were the case, I mean, you could easily say people were bought and paid for but i know i'm not but i just was going to say that financial is not a factor that we are supposed to consider was that even brought up i think about five times in the last three minutes he just he was just saying the hardship that he's going through none of us consider that

I guess the question that I have for you is that is there anything else that he can do to help him get rid of this property that would be in favor to help him if the commission does not decide to do this?

I mean, Jay or – Yeah, I think the problem – the gentleman explained it really well. So it's zoned RA now, which requires a three-acre minimum lot size. So it's four acres as it is. So it really can't be further divided in its current state and its current zoning. And what it sounds to me like is that because it is on a major arterial road and kind of a rapidly changing area, that a four-acre home site is not really what the market is looking for right there. The way it's currently zoned, it's kind of stuck as it is. And the gentleman's right that there's a long history of code violations on this property, and he's done a great job of getting all that rectified and cleaned up and done everything he's been asked to do. So, you know, I think just when you look at this, I know there was a mention about commercial use, but RR is a rural district, so just like RA, they're both different rural destinations. RR is one that does allow a lot of different things through conditional use permits, which, you know, It when you're along a major corridor like this is not really unreasonable to expect But yeah, it sounds to me like it's basically, you know The the RSF II site where the home is is basically just trying to get the home or parcel by itself That's you know around two acres and then the rest could be remain a rural district that just gives a lot of options of what can happen on that highway corridor and

i just want to another comment is that you know this area the rosenton area is very i'm surprised nobody's here besides the adjacent landowner because they're very adamant and i think that whenever the new master plan comes out we're gonna i've got just a snippet of it here that i guess because i've been asking so many questions they went ahead and gave me a little snippet of it but you know I don't know what the future land use map is going to look like for this area. I know the current land use map is the only thing that really says it's consistent, but I know that we have some really problems with the Bucky's traffic. That's, that's probably an understatement. It's a major problem with the Bucky's traffic. And we're, we're fixing to discuss a lot of this in the July road and bridge meeting that There is, believe it or not, there is a plan to, um, do something about that. And I'm just a little concerned that when you look at this map, all you see is green around everywhere and I get it. You got a lot of, it's not farmland preservation. it's more of a rural area. And so even though it's on a major road, does it mean that it's on all the developed commercial all the way down there? And I know our, our is less extensive than, uh, than one of the B one, two threes or fours. But, um, it just, sometimes I just have to be careful when I, and thank you for cleaning that up. That was bad. I actually, when I looked at the satellite image, I was like, what in the world? Because the satellite image still has that on there.

I've got a question.

Okay.

Can I ask Jay a question? Yes, sir. Since we've already opened a public hearing, closed a public hearing, all that kind of stuff, is there a possibility that this gentleman, since he was new to this process, can do like the other, I mean, is there a way that he can go back to the drawing board and try to figure out another method to making this property work for some type of sale?

I mean, he certainly has the option. He could request to be tabled and kind of further vet this process.

I mean, is there something else y'all can figure out besides these two different types of, Right. Or RSFE or whatever this means.

Yeah. You're right. Let me clarify one thing.

This is the first rezoning I've ever been a part of. I think there's two different.

No, there's been a few others.

So we do split zonings. It's not frequent, but it does happen, and we do allow it.

Well, I don't remember.

Not many. The RR, just to clarify, it doesn't allow many things by right. It allows a lot of things by special approval.

That's what I'm scared of because that's the big one that when you look at what it offers.

Well, across the street is where that dog kennel is.

Yeah, so we're talking about.

That's what could go in there.

We're talking about outdoor recreation, general commercial animal clinics, kennels, farm equipment sales, farmer's market. That's my biggest thing. I know he's saying he's not doing it, but as soon as he sells that property, they get to do it. So that's the problem. We changed the use of this land so you can sell it. And the next people that buy it is going to capitalize on this very broad – because we don't do a whole lot of RR at all. No, it's not. It's not.

Is that not one of the zones that you're going to –

Yeah, we're cleaning a lot of that up because it's one of the oldest zoning classifications that the county has.

I mean, we're talking churches, religious facilities, child care centers, child care daycares, fire stations, library posts, and then single-felon dwellings, manufactured homes, mobile homes. This is by right. Once this gets up, you can put a mobile home park there. So I'm kind of the neighbor beside you. stated her case and all that stuff so I'm ready if we're done with the question and we'll call for some type of motion in a second I'll make a motion we deny this request and I'll second that we got a motion in a second to deny the request all right

Any more discussion? I'd just like to say that if you can, I can see where this is going, where it's going to go. You're going to be denied most likely. I would get with Jay and see if you can do something later, see what we can do to help you. You helped us by cleaning it up by our regulations. By God, we should try to help you too at the same time, and I think our staff's got a good plan, and they can probably try to help you.

Yeah, I didn't know what to ask for. No, I know. Really, we kind of looked at it.

All right, thank you.

Jay, if he wants to come back with a different zoning designation, should he withdraw his request?

Yes, that's what I was about to say. There's a couple different options, if I can make it for you guys to take a vote. So he can request to table it. and come back with a different request. But if it's denied, he cannot request a different classification rezoning for a year. That's right. So I would just maybe recommend, I do think there's some other ways to get there, and there's a lot of detail.

Okay, commissioners, I'm in favor to call for a vote.

Do you want us to withdraw our motions?

Withdraw our motions.

You would need to withdraw the second in the motion, and then he would need to request a withdrawal of his current,

let's not do a table let's because he's gonna be coming back with a different classification request right so let's not table let's let's withdraw because it's gonna be a whole right so commissioners I need a motion to risk draw our motions in seconds motion okay got that all in favor say aye all right so now we're up to accepting his motion to withdraw this case

Yeah, well, his request, so it'd be a motion to accept his request to withdraw.

I'll make that motion that we accept his request. Second.

All right, we got a motion to second to accept his request to withdraw. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We got four ayes on that, so come back, and that way we're working with you a little bit on that one. So go back to the drawing board. Yes, ma'am.

I think so.

Brings us up to where? Thank you. Brad, we do all that right. If there needs to be any cleanup matter on that, just let us know. It'll be on the red print at the Baymanette meeting next time. Did it perfectly. We're good. So other staff recommendations. I do have one here. Roger will present this. I'm going to pass this down if y'all don't mind. This is a resolution on something that we did at the last meeting. And, um, it's something that, that was weighing heavy on me and had a lot of calls on this. And this is to just, um, accept the name that the state is going to call the beach express one 61. I mean, that's going to be it regardless, but not to change everybody addresses. And to keep the addresses as Baldwin Beach Express is what this resolution or this item is going to do. We can discuss it, have discussion on it, but I've received a lot of opposition in this since these people have been through this once before.

Yes, sir. Basically what you have in you, it's a packet, and it's a packet with two resolutions in it. Both these resolutions, we need to do each of them separately, but it's to continue the local recognition of names of the Foley Beach Express and the Baldwin Beach Express within the unincorporated areas of Baldwin County. So that way those will still be recognized as far as addressing the 911 purposes. Because again, the state is only going to be recognizing it as Highway 161. So if we were to continue uh those recognitions that people still can recognize and everybody still calls it those uh then in the unaccompanied areas this is the request for you to pass the resolution to recognize that to keep those name recognitions with the unaccompanied areas there's no numbers yet so whatever then what what will be the 114 and 115.

114 and 115.

Well, I'll make that motion then that we approve resolution 2026, 114. And do we do it individual or can we do both of them at the same time?

Individual. Individual. So we got a motion?

I'll second that motion.

Second on resolution 26, 114. Any further discussion? All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

All right, that resolution passes. We need a motion on resolution 115.

I'll make that motion. We approve resolution 2026-115. Okay.

Got a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. There's both of those resolutions. So nobody's addresses will change.

Thank you for bringing that up.

So next up, is drum roll, right? We're taking care of our agenda. It's press questions. Anybody here from the press?

Commissioner, comments? Chairman, I'll start it out. I just want to thank the staff for getting us where we're at today in our meeting, getting it published and taking care of everything. And I look forward to us adopting a new use plan and the new maps and everything else to go with it because it is very important. And I know we've been working on this a while. and it's something that we've been asking for for a while, and this takes a while. You just can't do it overnight, and I want to thank the staff for getting it to the point we are so that we can look at this now. Probably what that's going to mean, it's not an anti-growth plan. We have to plan for growth because that's what we have. We have growth, but we have to plan for it. So we just, you know, we gotta do a little bit better job with our growth. So I wanna thank each and every one, so thank you.

Absolutely, this has been a, anytime we have a lot of zoning cases, it's very important that everyone do their homework, and I know I do mine, Even though sometimes we don't always agree, that's fine. That's what it's for. If we were rubber stamps, then you wouldn't need us. But I am excited about the new master plan. Looking at the timeline, the adoption is the fall. If I'm not mistaken, fall don't start until the latter part of September. could go all the way into December so that was why that during the work session that I requested that we do a moratorium on zoning cases only not anything else but just zoning cases and I think today we had three withdrawals we had a couple denials one pass I mean If you say so, we can always disagree, but I think it's a mess. But anyways, thank the staff for everything they do. This is no put off on anybody that works in our planning department. Matter of fact, it's probably one of the hardest jobs that anybody would ever undertake. And for those who have endured it for decades, like Miss Selena back there, my hats, I don't have a hat on, but what if I did? My hat's off to you. And thank you, Jay and Frank, for putting up with all of my questions because I know that I can be... I don't know if all of us hound them like I do about these cases, but it is not easy. Thank y'all.

I just want to say thank you to the staff for putting this together. And go out and vote if you haven't voted yet, so go out and vote. And I just look forward for the next four or five months, so thank you.

I always, at the last, talk at these things, so echoing that is redundant, but the staff knows how much we appreciate them, and we could not do what we do without them. There's no way to run this organization without staff, so thank all of y'all. Big packed agenda today that took hours to put together, and we breezed through it, so thank y'all for making our job simple. you know, we never thank our County attorney, but thank you for always sitting over there and listening to us too. So he's staff, he's a con he's on a different level staff, right. Um, you know, so thank him and, uh, you know, just all the people that spoke up today on cases and stuff. This is how a government works. And, um, it was a, it was a good day and it is going to be a great thing to finally put together our plan. that we're going to bring forward, hopefully while we're still up here. If not, then the new guys will get it. But it's real important for those new commissioners to have some type of organized plan in place. And that's a great feeling to have leaving out of here and knowing that there's going to be an actual thing in place to help you all have Commissioner Underwood out.

So that's the only one that's going to be here on this desk.

So, yeah, like Matt said, it's important. I know the weather sucks today. Get out and vote. It's important to these people that are still on the ballots that are, you know, trying to figure out where they're going in life to go show your support one way or the other. The biggest downfall in elections is not voting. So, is that right today? That's what all these holidays that are coming up are here for because, you know, We have the right to vote in this country. So get out today. Probably the rain is holding off right now. So when you leave out of here, you can stop by the polling places and vote like I'm going to do. So I didn't want to get wet before I came here this morning. So I'm going to go vote here in just a minute. So thank you all for everything. And this meeting is over.