BAYBRIEF | DAPHNE
Old Towne, new issues
DAPHNE RESIDENTS SEEK TO LIMIT DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT BY JOHN MULLEN
R
esidents of Old Towne Daphne have two views of what they see as an encroachment on their quiet little haven by Dyas Development and Real Estate. “One is he’s coming closer and let’s see if we can work it out in a way that binds him legally,” resident Sandy Robinson said. “And one view is if we don’t trust him, why are we continuing to talk to him, why is he continuing to jerk everybody around for the last eight months because he knew this was our problem? If he was willing to do this why didn’t he submit it back in November, back when the issue was first raised?” The development in question by Craig Dyas involves two components, one a mixed-use project connecting to U.S. Route 98 near the Popeye’s Chicken with retail and 38 townhomes. It’s the second part of the plan the Old Towne residents are concerned about. Dyas wants to extend Daphne Court East into an empty parcel he wants rezoned so he can put in eight townhomes. He withdrew it from consideration after discussion at the June 27 planning commission meeting to address residents’ concerns. He has until July 11 to resubmit a plan for the development, which could come up again in the July 26 planning commission meeting. When the idea was first broached in November, Dyas proposed extending Daphne Court all the way east to U.S. Route 98, making a thoroughfare for both parts of the developments. Residents turned out in force to oppose the plan when it came before the City Council in March. The planning commission recommended
denial of the rezoning and the council was prepared to vote it down. Councilman Ron Scott told Dyas if that happened he would have to wait a year to resubmit another plan or he could withdraw the plan from reconsideration and resubmit right away. Dyas has since changed the plan several times and now is proposing a rezoning of the parcel near Daphne Court to put in eight homes on what would be an extension of the street. It would end there and not become a thoroughfare to U.S. Route 98. “The underlying problem is we don’t trust him,” Robinson said, adding she and other residents would rather the parcel directly east of Daphne Court use U.S. Route 98 to access the new homes. Dyas’ latest planned unit development rezoning request calls for a permanent landscape wall at the end of the street extension, cutting it off from the mixed-use development on U.S. Route 98. “The original showed a connection from Highway 98 to Main Street with a gate,” Daphne Planning Director Adrienne Jones said. “The current document shows an expansion of Daphne Court eastward to provide access for the singlefamily detached townhouses.” According to Robinson, Fire Chief James White said if more than two homes are built on the lot Daphne Court would have to be widened to 20 feet on the old section to accommodate emergency vehicles. Messages sent to Dyas via voicemail and social media were unanswered.
BAYBRIEF | BALDWIN COUNTY
Record numbers
TOLL BRIDGE ON PACE FOR BUSIEST YEAR EVER
T
BY JOHN MULLEN
raffic counts across the Foley Beach Express are growing yearly, with 2018 on pace to set record highs for both vehicles and revenue at the bridge in Orange Beach. Through five months of the year, 1.7 million vehicles have paid the toll over the Intracoastal Waterway and the city has pocketed more than $500,000. “The city loaned the bridge company $12 million years ago in exchange for this per-car payment,” City Administrator Ken Grimes said. From 2004 until 2013 the city loaned $1.2 million annually to the bridge company. In return it received a per-vehicle fee which is adjusted according to traffic volume. The only year the city made its money back was 2006 when it collected just over the $1.2 million from tolls. The city averaged about $600,000 per year in losses. After the last of 10 loans in 2013, Orange Beach began in 2014 collecting a 30-cent per vehicle toll which will last through the year 2034. Orange Beach has collected just over $10.5 million through May of this year. Averaging out the numbers based on the first five months of 2018 would project to a new high of $1.23 million and traffic would be projected to top four million vehicles for the first time ever. “The bridge isn’t required to expand until it reaches a volume of six million vehicles a year, so we have a ways to go to reach that,” Grimes said. Through the first five months of 2017 the vehicle count was 1.3 million and the city had
10 | L AG N I A P P E | J u l y 1 1 , 2 0 1 8 - J u l y 1 7 , 2 0 1 8
collected about $450,000. Traffic concerns and continued expansion of subdivisions and condo developments in both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are at the center of a debate over the state building a competing bridge a mile and a half west of the Foley Beach Express. The Baldwin County Bridge Co., a subsidiary of American Roads, is involved in that project as a strip of right-of-way it owns has been condemned by the state for use in the new project. The company is contesting the less than $10,000 offer the state made to cross the two-foot-wide strip along the Foley Beach Express owned by the company. The bridge company previously challenged the entire road and bridge project from County Road 8 to a proposed bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway near the Gulf Shores airport. During that procedure, Alabama Department of Transportation Director John Cooper testified the state had not conducted any traffic studies or held public forums about the project before beginning condemnation proceedings on land along the route. “In our view, the admissions ALDOT personnel made in the probate proceeding show that the taking is unjustified and contrary to the public interest,” American Roads CEO Neal Belitsky said. “American Roads/BCBC, therefore, will continue to defend itself against the government’s attempt to take its property without adhering to fundamental constitutional due process protections, including pursuing a new trial in Alabama circuit court after full discovery of everyone involved.”