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Council: We have no control

Officials approve building permit moratorium to stop influx of apartment complexes

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By PAUL KNIGHT
Staff Reporter
FAIRHOPE -- Developers of a controversial worker-housing project appeared before an angry crowd at Monday's City Council meeting.

Council members answered complaints directed at them by saying they have no control over land usage outside city limits -- even if it's in their five-mile planning jurisdiction -- but later unanimously approved a 30-day moratorium on issuing building permits within the city's smaller permitting area.

Mayor Tim Kant urged the council to pass the moratorium, citing a developer's plan to build a 10-acre, 195-unit apartment complex near the worker housing along U.S. 98, just south of Twin Beech Road.

"Everywhere I look it seems these apartments are popping up," Kant said. "Things are getting out of hand."

Planning Director Gregg Mims said the moratorium will stop any developments in the city's 1½-mile permitting jurisdiction until new building code and subdivision guidelines can be presented to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission at its June 4 meeting.

Mims added that the new guidelines still won't grant the city control over how land is used in those areas, but will set stricter rules concerning drainage and traffic issues before developers can get permits.

"There's a huge misconception about the city's ability to control land use outside the city limits," Mims said.

Last week, Baldwin County officials set a precedent by deciding they did not have the authority to review multifamily projects, such as apartments and condos, in unzoned areas of a municipality's planning jurisdiction.

County officials had planned to request a construction stoppage of the worker-housing project because county engineers never approved the development. The stoppage wasn't pursued, however, after a county attorney advised that it was not within their authority.

Therefore, city and county officials have little to no control over multifamily developments in unzoned areas inside municipal planning jurisdictions.

County officials had planned to request a construction stoppage of the worker-housing project because county engineers never approved the development. The stoppage wasn't pursued, however, after a county attorney advised that it was not within their authority.

Therefore, neither city or county officials have much control over land usage in unzoned areas.

Mims gave the example of a large section of unzoned land on the southeast corner of U.S. 98 and Twin Beech Road, which falls outside city limits but inside the planning jurisdiction.

"If someone bought that land and wanted to put a Wal-Mart or Kmart or Target there, they could," Mims said.

Builders who applied for permits before Monday will be exempt from the moratorium, Mims said. The 10-acre apartment complex referenced by Kant will not be exempt, Mims said, since developers have not officially applied for permit.

The moratorium comes after weeks of public outcry about modular apartments that were placed near Fairhope High School and will house foreign workers for the Grand Hotel in Point Clear.

City Council President Bob Gentle said most of the council has been unaware of the project. The city's Building Department granted permits to the developer of the worker housing, but since the land was outside Fairhope's limits, city officials had little interaction with developers.

"I don't want anyone to walk away thinking the council has voted on this," Gentle said.

Gentle said, however, that since residents had voiced their concerns to city officials in previous weeks, the council asked Ray Hix, one of the developers of the worker housing, to appear at Monday's meeting. Gentle said Hix's appearance was a public information issue.

Construction of the worker housing is almost complete, Hix said. Crews were working on the parking lot on Monday.

"There is some confusion," Hix said. "I regret there hasn't been a better dialogue."
Hix, who along with Fairhope Municipal Judge Haymes Snedeker, is developing the project under the name of Lone Oak Properties LLC, presented and read a letter to the council Monday.

The letter said that the screening process completed by PCH Hotels and Resorts, the company that manages the Grand Hotel and hired the workers who will live in the apartments, is more thorough than background checks that other local apartments would complete.

Furthermore, hiring foreign workers legally to fill regional work force shortages is safer than another option, according to Hix's letter.

"Baldwin County, unfortunately, has more than its share of illegal aliens who quite often are associated with drug trafficking and other criminal activities," the letter stated. "To us it is much better to fill temporary manpower shortages with legal, screened and government-approved immigrants than the alternative: illegals."

After Hix's presentation, Gentle asked for a representative from the crowd to respond. A.J. Cooper, president of the District 17 Community Association, did so by criticizing the hotel company for not making similar efforts to recruit qualified local workers.

"I've read the letter," Cooper said, "and it is an amazing piece of work, insulting to many of our citizens."

Cooper called the developer irresponsible for building the worker housing near Fairhope High School without consulting school officials.

"We have a responsibility to our students," Cooper told the council. "We don't have a responsibility to the Grand Hotel or to two young fellas who had some property and wanted to make some money."