[2:58] Good afternoon everybody.
>> Welcome to the Gulf Shore City Council
[3:03] work session meeting of April the 6th.
We appreciate you being here. Uh this is
[3:08] the meeting where for those of you that
are not typically with us, this is where
[3:12] we talk about items that will be on the
agenda next Monday for voting. And this
[3:18] is where we get to listen to your
questions, your input, and any comments
[3:21] you want us to know as we proceed
forward to consider these these
[3:25] different agendas or proclamations or
whatever. So, please be uh raise your
[3:31] hand and be anxious to communicate with
us. We want to hear from you. This is
[3:35] your opportunity. We're going to start
tonight with a presentation. We have
[3:39] here representing GSores in the Miss
Senior Alabama Pageant, Miss Cheryl
[3:43] Richie. Cheryl, will you explain to us a
little bit about what what you're doing?
[3:48] » Thank you so much for having me today. I
truly appreciate it. Um, on March the
[3:53] 17th, I had the distinct pleasure of
being crowned Miss Senior Gulf Shores
[3:56] 2026 by the Miss Senior Alabama
organization. It is an honor to be here
[4:03] and represent our city throughout the
state. This is a pageant that has been
[4:07] in existence since 1987,
um, which I wasn't a senior at that
[4:12] point in time. Uh we have two different
categories. Uh Miss Senior Alabama and
[4:16] Miss Super Senior Alabama. That's from
age 60 to 69 is the senior and from age
[4:21] 70 and above is uh the super seniors. Um
our sole purpose is to encourage women
[4:28] over the age of 60 to share their
experience and their wisdom within their
[4:32] communities. So many times people hit
the age of 60 and they forget that they
[4:37] have purpose and most of the time their
purpose is really just now starting. So
[4:41] our organization carries around the
state the message of please remember
[4:46] your purpose and remember that you have
one and that your experience and wisdom
[4:50] can support that in your community. Each
year the winner as Miss Senior Alabama
[4:56] um takes their platform to the state and
I'm excited to take our city out to the
[5:03] state and represent you guys. Um I was
also many of you know me personally.
[5:08] I've been involved in this community. We
have been here since 1992. We've played
[5:11] every sport that there is. I've raised
three children here within this
[5:15] community. Love this community and I'm
very excited to be representing it. But
[5:20] I wanted to come and share with the city
what the pageant was and that we do have
[5:24] an opportunity to shine throughout the
city and that I'm looking forward to
[5:28] representing you guys.
>> Thank you, Cheryl. Cheryl's father was a
[5:32] coun set up here for a period of time.
Mr.
[5:35] » He ran against a couple of you. I don't
think he ever got it, but Steve, Steve
[5:39] and Jason know my dad well,
>> and I knew him well, too. So,
[5:43] » yes.
>> Thank you very much and congratulations.
[5:45] Can we get a photo?
>> Yes, I would love a photo. Thank you so
[5:48] much,
>> council.
[5:59] » Oh, good. You're
great. Marketing guy.
[6:12] I didn't take a picture of this too with
her phone.
[6:19] » Three, two, one.
[6:25] » Thank you.
[6:33] Absolutely.
[6:47] » Ready? Huh?
>> Yeah.
[6:53] » Next on the agenda, we have a
proclamation on sexual assault awareness
[6:58] month for April 2026. And Jennifer,
Council of Woman Guthrie is going to
[7:03] read it for us.
>> Absolutely.
[7:05] Um, and is Micah with the lighthouse
here, too? Oh, there you are, Micah.
[7:09] » Hi.
>> Well, I'll read the proclamation and
[7:11] then I'll join me down there. Okay.
>> Um, okay. So, whereas according to the
[7:16] Rape, Abuse, and Incest National
Network, RAIN, every 68 seconds, an
[7:21] American is sexually assaulted, and
every nine minutes that victim is a
[7:25] child. only 25 out of every 1,000
perpetrators will end up in prison. And
[7:31] whereas only 310 out of every thousand
sexual assaults are reported to police,
[7:37] meaning that more than two out of three
go unreported. And whereas the most
[7:42] important thing we can do for our
victims is believe them and support
[7:45] them. And whereas National Sexual
Assault Awareness Month seeks to raise
[7:50] awareness, find solutions, and foster
community involvement, as well as to
[7:55] remember survivors of sexual assault and
offer tribute to all victims of sexual
[7:59] assault throughout America each year.
And whereas the effects of sexual
[8:04] assault are felt by the entire
community, requiring all to join
[8:08] together to take action to create a
safer environment for everyone.
[8:12] And whereas the city of Gulf Shores
commends the lighthouse for encouraging
[8:17] all citizens to become more aware of
sexual assault and for remaining strong
[8:21] and persistent advocates toward the
support of all victims of such terrible
[8:25] acts. And now therefore, on behalf of
Mayor Craft and the fellow council
[8:30] members of the city of Gulf Shores, I do
hereby proclaim April 2026 as sexual
[8:35] assault awareness month in the city of
Gulf Shores, Alabama. call upon all
[8:39] residents, businesses, and organizations
to join in raising awareness, supporting
[8:44] survivors, and working together to
prevent sexual assault in our community.
[8:50] Thank you so much. Um, good evening and
thank you for recognizing sexual assault
[8:56] awareness month. Um, the lighthouse is
very grateful for this recognition. This
[9:01] proclamation is more than words. It
shines a light on a crime that often
[9:05] lives in silence and it sends a powerful
message to victims and survivors. You
[9:10] are seen. You are supported. And you are
not alone. Through the services provided
[9:15] at the Lighthouse, we stand alongside
survivors every step of the way,
[9:18] offering a 24-hour crisis line, hospital
accompaniment, counseling, support
[9:24] groups, and court advocacy.
We're honored to serve individuals and
[9:28] families across Baldwin and Escambia
counties, walking with them on their
[9:32] path towards healing. Thank you for your
support and helping us bring awareness,
[9:36] hope, and compassion to our community.
>> Micah, can you tell us a little bit
[9:41] about Teal Tuesdays?
>> So, um, Teal Tuesday, we are asking for
[9:48] everyone in the community to wear Teal
just to help bring awareness to sexual
[9:52] assault and to support those victims.
And it's going to be April 7th is the
[9:57] day that we're we're asking everybody to
show that support. So tomorrow
[10:04] this to you
[10:50] Thank you, Jim.
Next item on the list, uh, Assistant
[10:55] City Administrator Lee Jones has got
several issues to go over with us
[10:59] tonight. Mr. Jones,
>> good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Um, I
[11:03] have been asked to talk fast given the
length of today's agenda, but I I don't
[11:09] really feel like talking fast, but I
have consolidated four items into two,
[11:13] so hopefully that will make things move
along quickly. Um, the first item on the
[11:19] agenda, the font is really messed up.
Um, not sure how that happened, but it's
[11:25] legible. So, um, the first item on the
agenda is a request to accept a proposal
[11:31] from Innerboroough Partners LLC, uh, to
create a comprehensive plan for the city
[11:36] and to allow the the mayor to negotiate
and accept and execute a professional
[11:41] services contract with Inner Bureau, an
amount not to exceed $500,000.
[11:47] Your agenda item summary in your packet
uh was incorrect. the account where we
[11:52] were pulling this this uh money for the
comp plan for. Um John informed me that
[11:58] he actually budgeted $300,000
and uh the capital fund uh fund 38 um
[12:05] for 2026. So it won't be coming from our
consulting services. it will be coming
[12:10] from fund 38 um with an additional
200,000 uh in 2027. Since this is
[12:17] spanning uh both 2026 and 2027,
uh we're requesting $300,000 this year
[12:24] and then 200,000 in the following year.
Uh the comp plan is a long-term policy
[12:30] document. that will serve as a guide for
both public and private actions and
[12:35] decisions that will help ensure quality
and measured development in line with
[12:39] the community's vision. And uh that was
a key component of this was making sure
[12:44] that we had really broad um uh public
engagement throughout the life of the
[12:50] plan. Inter Partners is is well known in
planning circles for their creative um
[12:57] uh public engagement uh expertise and
and the way that they go about getting
[13:03] input from communities. Um so this is
not just your typical comp plan in that
[13:09] we we put together a very specific RFP
last year before it went out and we
[13:15] asked for these elements that were kind
of over and above what you typically
[13:18] find in a comp plan. The first is what's
called a public engagement plan or a
[13:22] PEP. Um at the very outset of this
project, they will develop a plan for
[13:28] how best to engage our community unique
to the city of Gulf Shores. Um we also
[13:34] uh required a market study. So several
of the teams didn't have an economist on
[13:39] their team. Innerboroough's team does
have an economist. uh he's worked on
[13:43] dozens of of comprehensive plans, but
we're going to do a a full-blown
[13:48] citywide uh market study as part of the
comprehensive plan. And and while we do
[13:53] have um several elements that make up
our current master plan for the city, we
[13:58] don't have a consolidated comprehensive
plan. So, this will be the first time
[14:03] for us to develop a baseline assessment
of our community, our profile. Um so we
[14:09] wanted to make sure that that was uh the
intent of this plan. Also a detailed
[14:14] multimmodal transportation plan. We have
a major street plan that is built on
[14:19] federal highway commission um
requirements for arterials collectors
[14:24] local roads. It's all uh it's all about
moving cars. We have one of those. But
[14:29] the multimmodal transportation plan is
all about moving people. So, we wanted
[14:32] to make sure that the the the
respondents knew that we wanted
[14:36] something that was more than just about
focused on automobiles. Uh, we also
[14:41] included the draft vision 2035 plan in
the RFP. So, they knew we weren't
[14:47] starting from ground zero. We've done a
lot of community engagement to get the
[14:51] core values and the goals of our 2035
plan set. So, they will be building on
[14:56] that effort as well. and also uh
something that we could translate easily
[15:01] into small area plans as well as as
zoning. So we don't want this plan to
[15:05] sit on a a shelf. U we want to make sure
that it's easily transferable into
[15:11] zoning and other more detailed small
area plans. And finally we requested a
[15:16] detailed implementation plan. We don't
want it to sit on the shelf. We want to
[15:20] make sure that we can take the
recommendations from this plan and
[15:23] implement them over time. Uh just a
brief timeline of the process for this
[15:28] decision. In December of 2025, we did
put out an RFP across multiple uh
[15:34] national uh channels uh Planet Edison,
APA, um several different websites where
[15:42] this RFP went out. We closed acceptance
of uh proposals from qualified firms. on
[15:48] February 13th of this year, we received
12 proposals uh from teams across the
[15:54] country and I think it's a testament to
and and in the interviews we heard from
[15:59] folks they just people really want to
work here in the city of Gulf Shores. I
[16:02] was um I was overwhelmed by the quality
of the subittles that we received from
[16:10] nationally recognized firms and teams
all who wanted to work here in Gulf
[16:15] Shores because of of what we have to
offer. Um the week of February 16th, the
[16:21] the selection committee scored the
proposal. You can't see the list of
[16:25] folks on the selection committee, but
it's made up of members of the executive
[16:30] department as well as department heads.
Uh February 27th, we met and talked
[16:35] through our scores and we selected four
of the 12 teams to interview. And then
[16:41] on March 12th and 13th out at the Eco
Center, we held interviews for the four
[16:45] selected firms. After all the teams
interviewed um we met and unanimously
[16:51] selected Intera Partners team um to uh
develop the comprehensive plan for the
[16:56] city. They stood out among the other
teams both because they were very
[17:00] personable. They were easy to talk to.
They answered our questions really well.
[17:04] Seemed like a group of folks that we
could uh relate to and work with, but
[17:08] also they brought in a team of experts
um that focused on each element of the
[17:14] plan. So all of these uh different firms
have worked together on plans in the
[17:19] past. Um but they are all nationally
recognized experts in their fields uh
[17:24] for these different comprehensive plan
elements. Um there's six different
[17:28] elements of the comp plan. I'm I'm
skipping task six in Interro's approach.
[17:33] Um the first five ta tasks are inventory
and developing the market study, uh the
[17:40] public engagement plan, all those
things. I won't go into those in detail,
[17:43] but I did want to focus on the six core
plan elements, which are land use,
[17:48] housing, urban design, the mobility
plan, environmental resilience, and
[17:52] economic development.
Code studio is a team member that will
[17:57] lead uh the land use component of the
plan. And again, all of these plans work
[18:03] uh with each other. They're not done in
silos. these these firms that are
[18:07] leading these different elements of the
plan will be working together so that
[18:12] the land use and mobility or and
economic development are all talking to
[18:16] one another and they'll all be
interacting as they develop these
[18:19] different elements. But Code Studio is a
national leader in zoning and formbbased
[18:26] codes. Um, so seeing them a as one of
the uh the leaders of of the the land
[18:33] use element was was great for us. They
will set this up to be easily translated
[18:39] into small area plans andor zoning as we
move forward from policy to
[18:46] implementation on this. Uh the second
element is housing. Inter will be
[18:50] leading this with help from Randy Gross
uh economics, you know, looking at where
[18:55] the gaps in our housing market are,
locations, different housing types, how
[19:00] much housing, you know, we have um a new
school system that we we are very
[19:05] concerned about overburdening as well as
our transportation system. So um where
[19:10] where are we going to get the most out
of our housing and what types of housing
[19:15] and what's the form of that housing uh
will be uh the goal of the housing
[19:19] element. Third is the urban design
element. Um so this will be looking at
[19:24] existing conditions for our streets,
parks, civic spaces, uh waterfronts and
[19:31] then providing additional opportunities
for uh new civic spaces, uh new streets,
[19:39] uh new parks um will all be the the
urban design element. Multimodal
[19:44] mobility uh that will be done by Tool
Design. Tool is based in Maryland, but
[19:49] they have offices all over the country.
they are a leading expert not just in
[19:54] moving cars but moving people. So
they'll be focused on um uh we've had a
[20:00] lot uh this year with with ebikes. So
they'll be drilling down into what our
[20:06] existing ordinances say, but also what
are best practices nationally, what's
[20:11] best for the city of Gulf Shores as far
as um policies and regulations for
[20:15] ebikes, golf carts, um our trail
networks, you know, missing sidewalk
[20:21] gaps, um transit to school, uh transit
to and from the airport. So um they're
[20:27] really going to give us a a deep dive
into uh mobility within the community.
[20:33] Wagner and Ball is a multid-disciplinary
firm uh based in New Orleans. They're
[20:39] going to be looking at um our uh storm
water ordinance um or lack thereof,
[20:45] Jenny. Um uh and um and how we can
improve our storm water ordinance, how
[20:52] we can make the most of our parks and
open spaces as far as resilience.
[20:56] They'll look at our our um our building
codes and and provide some
[21:01] recommendations on how we can build a
better, more resilient um development
[21:07] pattern as well as our parks and and
public spaces. Uh final element will be
[21:12] economic development. Randy Gross um out
of Nashville will be uh looking at the
[21:18] econ economic development component of
the plan. And Randy doesn't just look at
[21:23] our current market and and what
opportunities we have currently, but he
[21:27] will forecast um out into the future.
This the comp plan is a 20-year uh plan.
[21:34] Uh Randy will look 5, 10, 15, 20 years
into the future and help us um develop,
[21:41] you know, our small local businesses,
workforce development, as well as
[21:45] strategies for uh getting new businesses
and um uh folks in into town. Um task
[21:55] eight is going to be the implementation
plan. Again, one of the requirements of
[21:59] the uh the RFP was a a robust
implementation plan. This is an example
[22:05] from Inner Bureau's St. Louis um
project. But we will um develop a very
[22:12] detailed um implementation plan that
goes from goals and objectives to tasks
[22:18] to those responsible for those tasks and
what time frames um those tasks will be
[22:24] undertaken. Um, and we'll roll that into
strategic plans as well. Um, building
[22:29] off of the comp plan. And then finally,
the final draft. That is not a a draft
[22:35] of of one of Interro's comp plans.
That's actually a a graphic novel that
[22:41] they developed just to help folks
understand what zoning and and land use
[22:46] was. Um, but uh the last phase of it
will be to develop the final plan and
[22:52] get that plan adopted. Um, so, uh,
staff's recommendation is to accept the
[22:59] proposal from Interboro and then allow
the mayor to negotiate and execute a
[23:04] contract with inner burough for an
amount not to exceed $500,000.
[23:09] I'd be happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, League Council. Questions,
[23:13] comments?
Anybody in the audience questions,
[23:18] comments?
I'll just say I'm looking forward to it
[23:22] and I know it's been a ton of work and I
think that's one of the exciting parts
[23:27] of it too is all the work that's going
into it and everybody coming together.
[23:30] But I think from a a standpoint of the
leadership
[23:34] gives give me confidence and trying to
know or knowing that what we want we're
[23:40] getting what we want but also knowing
where to put it and how that affects our
[23:44] quality of life while we maintain that
economic resilience which is what we're
[23:48] always trying to balance. that
>> following on directly behind vision 2035
[23:53] and as we finalize that then being able
to put that into something that concrete
[23:59] this is what that means and this is what
we're looking for. It's a great
[24:02] opportunity for help us do as we did in
vision 2025 define our future and work
[24:07] toward a goal and make it happen and
don't just sit back and let it or hope
[24:11] it happens. So good good group too. So,
any other comments? Council, anybody in
[24:16] the audience? Anything?
Lee, you have one more?
[24:23] » Yes, sir. Um, this is uh one that is
actually three different resolutions.
[24:28] Um, this is a West Gulf Avenue rightway
relocation.
[24:34] Michael, my clicker is not
>> Okay, there we go.
[24:40] Um, and here's the font again. But, uh,
so, uh, this will not be on your agenda
[24:46] next week. This actually we have to
advertise this for 28 days. It's a
[24:50] right-of-way vacation. So, we'll
advertise this for 28 days. So, this
[24:54] will be on a council agenda as a public
hearing item in May. Um, so the first
[25:00] resolution is to vacate 1.37 acres of
West Gulf Avenue. to its unopened ride
[25:08] ofway. Um the second resolution is to
establish a vacation fee. All these uh
[25:15] state laws that are referenced here uh
the state won't allow us just to give
[25:21] away right away. So we have to establish
a fee for that ride ofway. And once that
[25:25] rightway is vacated, it's vacated to the
adjacent property owners. But so that
[25:30] second resolution is a resolution to
establish that vacation fee. So, what's
[25:35] the property worth? Essentially, what
are we getting in exchange for it? The
[25:40] third resolution is authorizing the
mayor and city clerk to execute a quick
[25:44] claim deed to convey that 1.37 acres of
right of way. So,
[25:50] uh council uh agrees to vacate the right
of way. They establish a fee for that
[25:54] vacation and they authorize the mayor to
actually quit claim that property to the
[25:59] adjacent property owners. This is the
right of way in question. The image on
[26:03] the right is First Baptist Church. Um
here on the island, that's uh West 22nd
[26:09] Avenue on the north, uh First Street on
the west, and then West 20th Avenue on
[26:15] the south. You can see First Baptist
Church in their parking lot there. That
[26:20] purple color is the existing West Gulf
Avenue that is that we're requesting to
[26:25] vacate. It really doesn't tie into
anything. It doesn't tie into West 20th
[26:30] anymore. really just serves as a
circulator for the the parking lot for
[26:35] First Baptist Church. First Baptist
Church would like to expand their
[26:40] facilities as well as their parking. If
you've been by on any Sunday morning,
[26:44] you know that parking there, they're
they're in need of additional parking.
[26:49] So, they would like to expand their
parking lot into that ride of way. This
[26:55] is something we've been working on for a
long time. Um, and it's a matter of uh
[26:59] figuring out the ride ofway vacation fee
that we finally have an answer to in
[27:04] order to vacate this ride ofway and
allow them to expand their parking lot.
[27:09] Uh, the southern another southern
portion of West Gulf Avenue was vacated
[27:14] back in 2018 prior to the construction
of the Circle K um there on the corner
[27:20] of 20th and 59 as well. 59 cuts right
through what was West Gulf Avenue. So,
[27:27] there is a a portion of what it's east
Gulf Avenue on the other side of 59 that
[27:33] provides access to the uh city parking
lot there in Waterway Village. And
[27:38] that's the last remnant of Gulf Avenue
in this vicinity. That image on the
[27:44] left, the first thing we had to do was
uh survey these rights of way and have
[27:50] legal descriptions written. So, that's
what the image on the left is. That's a
[27:54] survey and legal for the ride ofway to
be vacated with West Gulf Avenue. The
[28:00] second resolution that you'll hear in
May is the establishment of a vacation
[28:05] fee. Staff is proposing that uh the
vacation fee be the dedication of
[28:12] property in the airport area. Uh this is
what we call an inind donation. Um, so
[28:19] the Randy McKenna who's the owner of
Equity Builders, you can see on the
[28:23] again the survey and legal to the left
there. Equity Builders owns a a parcel
[28:31] at uh in the Aviation and Business Park
and DCNR owns a parcel to the south of
[28:37] that. We've been working with DCNR and
Randy McKini to reorient these two lots
[28:44] to create this ride ofway so that we can
make a connection to the airport that is
[28:50] almost finalized. It's at the Department
of Treasury now. DCNR has agreed to
[28:56] everything. There's a um there's
actually a fish and wildlife uh deed
[29:02] restriction on the DCNR property that
we're working to remove. Uh DC&R tells
[29:07] us that's going to happen in a matter of
days. So this has been a long time in
[29:10] the process. Randy is a member of First
Baptist Church. He's been wanting to
[29:15] help them uh vacate that ride ofway and
we've worked this out um so that he can
[29:21] make an inind donation to the church and
then the church will then donate this
[29:26] ride ofway to the city for a connection
uh to the airport terminal. They're both
[29:31] pieces of property. Uh just just worked
out. They are are the same size. So it's
[29:38] 1.37 acres that we're requesting to be
vacated West Gulf. And this donation is
[29:44] 1.37 acres. Uh which provides a very
needed secondary access to the terminal.
[29:50] These are the two surveys side by side.
Again, the same acreage, different
[29:55] locations. Sorry about the giant red
arrow. Um, but just wanted to show it in
[30:01] context. So that blue circle down the
bottom lefthand corner is the West Gulf
[30:06] Avenue that we want to vacate and we're
relocating it through the donation from
[30:11] First Baptist Church as a secondary
entrance into the airport area. And
[30:17] that's the blue circle up in the upper
right hand corner. This is um the uh
[30:23] what we call a road map from the
Waterway East project back in 2022.
[30:28] waterway east. You can barely tell on
this aerial, but it it's a project
[30:31] that's been underway for a few years
now. It connects 59 out to the new 161
[30:37] bridge road. Um you it's it's amazing to
look at this from back in 2022. There's
[30:43] there's no um tower at the airport.
There's no temporary terminal. It's just
[30:48] amazing to look at how much progress has
taken place in the airport area just in
[30:54] a matter of three or four years. Um but
that plan included this connection to
[31:00] Commerce Drive, the secondary connection
into the the terminal. You can see it
[31:04] outlined there in um red. That's the
future terminal location. We have the
[31:10] existing access into the terminal, but
this one outlined in red will set up a
[31:15] secondary access into the terminal. This
is a zoomed in view of that Commerce
[31:20] Drive connection. It's always been a
part of the Waterway East project. We
[31:24] need to go ahead and transfer this right
away so ASI while they're out there on
[31:29] site can construct this connection to
Commerce Drive.
[31:35] Again, the the airport area uh small
area plan highlighted there with the red
[31:41] outline. That's the access we're looking
for. Ultimately, we'd like to have three
[31:45] accesses into the airport area, but this
is the the secondary one that is much
[31:50] needed as the terminal grows.
So, the third resolution here is uh if
[31:57] that um rightway donation of the 1.37
acres at um Commerce Drive into the
[32:04] terminal is made, then this resolution
will authorize the mayor to quick claim
[32:10] that the the West Gulf Avenue property,
the First Baptist Church, once the fee
[32:16] the fee is paid. So, we think this is a
really important connection. We think
[32:20] this serves a much better purpose for
the city uh to provide this connection
[32:25] to the airport than the existing West
Gulf Avenue does. And we do recommend
[32:30] approval of these three resolutions. Be
happy to answer any questions.
[32:34] » Thank you, Lee. Council, any questions,
comments?
[32:39] Great opportunity and great generous
donation from Randy McKenna. We need to
[32:44] recognize that and and thank him for his
commitment to help the airport and also
[32:50] help the church get what they want. So
delighted that this came together like
[32:54] it is and so really excited for this
opportunity. Anybody in the audience
[32:58] with any questions or comments?
>> Thank you, Lee.
[33:02] » Yes, sir.
>> Well done.
[33:06] » Next item on the agenda is authorize a
contract with FA Engineering for annual
[33:12] beach monitoring. Raymond. Yes sir. If
you'll recall in 23 and 24 we did a
[33:16] beach reourishment project where Gulf
Shores, Orange Beach, the state of
[33:20] Alabama put approximately 32,000 cubic
yards of beach back on or sand back on
[33:25] our beaches. And
one of the things that we have to do, we
[33:30] monitor our beach loss and gain each
year. And by doing that, we contract
[33:36] with FAT Associates with um Al Browder
who's been with us since our first
[33:41] researchment project back in 2006 from
Olsen Associates now with FAT. Um been a
[33:47] great partner with us and doing this
monitoring each year allows us to
[33:52] maintain good standards with FEMA. So if
we have any other storms, then we'll
[33:56] know exactly what how much sound we have
or how much to gain or put back. And
[34:00] what this is is just a two-year contract
that will allow us to continue to use
[34:04] them and uh updates the pricing that
they've given us over the past few
[34:09] years. This is a budgeted item each year
and uh $64,400.
[34:15] » Council questions, comments,
baseline study so we can prove what we
[34:21] had. The storm comes through, we can
prove what we lost. And that's that's
[34:25] how we quantify opportunities for
replacement overtime with FEMA. So, any
[34:31] questions or comments from the audience?
>> Brandon, thank you.
[34:35] » Thank you,
>> Toby.
[34:37] » Yes, sir.
>> Got something?
[34:39] » I do. I have a couple things. The first
thing I have is a board reappointment.
[34:43] Uh, Frank Holland to be reappointed as
municipal court judge and attorney Ken
[34:48] Reigns to be reappointed as the city's
prosecutor. both to serve two two-year
[34:53] term. Um, Judge Holland's term will be
April 16, 2026 to April 16, 2028. Um,
[35:02] attorney Ken Reigns will be April 23rd,
2026 to April 23rd, 2028. I will be
[35:10] happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Toby. Any questions? Anybody?
[35:18] » You got something else?
>> I do. Yes, sir. Uh, the next thing I
[35:20] have is a ABC license from Walmart. Uh,
Walmart store here in Gulf Shores has
[35:25] applied for a lounge retail liquor
license. Um, they currently have a
[35:30] license to sell beer and wine, but they
would like to sell liquor as well. Um,
[35:35] it will be scheduled for a public
hearing at the April 13th council
[35:39] meeting. I'll be happy to answer any
questions.
[35:42] » There'll be any questions? Anybody?
Jenny,
[35:53] » my font's messed up, too. Good
afternoon, council and mayor. Um, I have
[35:57] a couple items tonight. The first is uh
naming Alabama 161 southbound. As you
[36:03] know, ALDOT has been constructing uh a
new roadway which will become the
[36:08] extension of Alabama 161 southbound
shown here on the left side of the
[36:12] screen in sort of orange. Um this
schedule this road is scheduled to open
[36:17] in May. Um they're ten Aldot is
tenatively shooting for the week of May
[36:21] 18th to get that road opened. Um and
with the opening of that road, Baldwin
[36:26] uh E 911 has asked Gulf Shores, Orange
Beach, and Baldwin County to uh adopt a
[36:34] name for this road. Um they need to have
a name to reduce confusion for public
[36:39] safety and for emergency responders. So,
we um have all come together on the name
[36:45] Alabama Beaches Parkway. So, this will
be before you to vote on next week to
[36:50] name that section of Alabama 161 Alabama
Beaches Parkway.
[36:55] » Happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Jenny. Questions, comments?
[36:58] Anybody?
>> Another one?
[37:02] Uh the next one I have is uh for the
engineering design and construction
[37:09] manual professional services contract to
be executed by the mayor. Um currently
[37:15] the city does not have a unified
engineering design and construction
[37:18] manual. Our existing engineering
requirements are dispersed among the
[37:23] subdivision regulations and the city
code. Um many of those specifications
[37:27] are were written more than 20 years ago
and are significantly outdated. Uh some
[37:32] of them are are lesser standards than
ALDOT or our neighboring jurisdictions
[37:36] require. Um so we would like to bring
those up to date. Uh additionally with
[37:42] the comprehensive plan um that we are
currently undergoing as a city as well
[37:47] as a full rewrite of our subdivision
regulations uh by the planning
[37:50] department this year. this is a good
timing to really clean up all those
[37:53] codes, get everything in the documents
that they should be in. Um, so we put a
[37:59] an RFP, a request for proposals out in
February for this and received three
[38:04] proposals. Uh, after reviewing those, we
found they were all all good, but um, in
[38:09] in the city's opinion, MP Design Group
really stood out among the among those
[38:15] as as a good candidate for the
engineering standards. uh they'll help
[38:19] us write the technical details really
for everything in our ride ofway as well
[38:24] as storm water regulations that'll
they'll carry across the entire city.
[38:28] So, uh we are asking the council to
accept the proposal from MP Design Group
[38:35] in an amount not to exceed $144,300
[38:40] uh and allow the mayor to execute that
contract. Happy to answer any questions.
[38:45] » Thank you, Jenny. Council, any
questions, comments? I have a question.
[38:48] Will this be um in partnership with the
comp plan?
[38:53] » Remember mentioned storm water? I didn't
know if that's
[38:56] » they will. Yeah.
>> Yeah. We're going to work on all all the
[38:58] all all the documents will talk to each
other. So the comp plan will provide
[39:02] sort of an overarching concept and then
the engineering design manual will
[39:06] provide really the technical details
that support the comp plan.
[39:12] » Anybody in the audience questions,
comments?
[39:15] » Jenny, one more. uh one last and that is
to accept the roadways in the Aventur
[39:22] subdivision um and allow golf carts on
those same roadways. So here you see a
[39:27] map on the left showing um the roadways
in yellow that are included in this uh
[39:32] as Aventura was constructed in four
phases from 2017 to 2022. So the
[39:38] developer has met both the 24-month
waiting period as well as 50% lock lot
[39:44] occupancy for all of the phases in
Aventura. The developer provided us with
[39:48] letters of credit uh for shity for a
maintenance and war warranty period on
[39:53] the roadway and engineering has done in
some inspections on those rideways and
[39:57] found several deficiencies within the
roadways. We have been working with the
[40:01] developer to make those corrections but
there are still some outstanding issues
[40:06] out there. So, um, in working with the
developers, 68 Ventures has agreed to
[40:10] pay the city $580,484.50
[40:14] to cover the cost of these repairs, uh,
and allow the city to then, uh, take
[40:19] over maintenance of the roads and make
those repairs in 2026.
[40:23] So with this acceptance, the city will
take on that responsibility, put that in
[40:28] our 2026 roadway repair funds uh and
release 68 ventures of their maintenance
[40:33] responsibilities on the roadways as well
as the bonds that we are currently
[40:37] holding for them. We believe this amount
will cover all the outstanding work that
[40:41] needs completed in those roads. Um
Aventur was also marketed as a golf cart
[40:46] friendly subdivision. Um and residents
have been using golf carts in this
[40:50] subdivision. So, with the acceptance of
the roadways, we also recommend allowing
[40:54] golf carts in the neighborhood. Um, and
with all of this, engineering has
[40:58] coordinated very closely with the police
department and public works department
[41:02] on the outstanding items that need done
as well as enforcement on these
[41:05] roadways. Happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Jenny. Council, any questions
[41:10] from audience? Anybody? Yes, sir.
[41:17] » Good afternoon, Ray Moore. Uh, talking
about the golf carts and and y'all are
[41:24] going to be considering adding the golf
carts to Aventura.
[41:28] There's about 18 business owners or
managers in Pelican Place and two down
[41:34] at Lulu's that have been working with me
on proposal that I did email to y'all.
[41:42] uh when y'all are thinking about adding
the golf carts, if y'all could look at
[41:45] that and maybe maybe add that, look at
it, it would it would add connectivity
[41:51] for the residents that are north of the
inter coastal so that we could get to
[41:56] restaurants, uh shopping areas and also
to Lulu's. And the pedestrian bridge
[42:01] hopefully is going to be fixed, not
fixed, completed end of the year,
[42:06] beginning of next year. that would also
give us access to the waterway village
[42:11] down there. It's it's a it's a ways off
before it is done. But if y'all would it
[42:18] at least look at adding those six roads
and those other two subdivisions, that
[42:25] would do a lot for the community that's
north of the inter coastal to let us get
[42:29] around on other ways other than uh
driving our cars. But if y'all just
[42:34] consider that, we'd appreciate it.
Thanks.
[42:36] » Thank you, Rick. We'll do anybody else
questions, comments.
[42:41] » Just want to clarify. So for the um
police enforcement for everyone. So once
[42:47] this is passed or accepted then now we
can enforce speeding any kind of traffic
[42:54] violations which was one of the biggest
concerns with the residents in Aventura.
[42:59] » That's correct. So, um, this will be
before you next week to vote on and then
[43:03] once it's passed, then yes, police will
be able to enforce on those roadways.
[43:10] Anything else? Thank you, Jenny.
Marco.
[43:23] » Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. We
have a uh request to authorize
[43:26] acceptance of an Alabama state and local
cyber security grant program award
[43:30] providing $165,000 worth of hardware and
licensing which we applied for to
[43:35] upgrade our traffic system. This is not
a reimbursement grant and requires no
[43:40] matching funds. All necessary hardware,
software, and licensing will be provided
[43:45] directly by the Alabama state and local
cyber security grant provider and no
[43:49] city funds are required for project
completion.
[43:53] I'm happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Marco. Anybody
[43:58] any questions or comments?
Like those kind.
[44:02] » Well done.
Next, uh Anna
[44:07] » got a couple for us.
>> Yes, sir. Good afternoon. Uh before you
[44:12] was a request to make two amendments to
two existing loans with the airport
[44:16] authority. If you recall, you'd
previously uh allowed us to extend a
[44:20] $1.1 million operating line of credit
for operating expenses with the airport
[44:25] authority uh following the completion of
terminal 1.0. That line of credit was
[44:30] intended to cover expenses through 2025
and 2026. uh we are asking to increase
[44:36] that cap from 1.1 million to 2.3 million
and that will extend through 2026 and
[44:43] cover operational expenses estimated
through September 30th of 2027. That is
[44:48] when their fiscal year ends and at that
time uh the line of credit for
[44:52] operational expenses shall be repaid. Uh
we did work very closely with Jesse
[44:56] Fosnau, the airport director, to uh
estimate these expenses to the best of
[45:00] our ability and I'm happy to answer any
questions or I can move on to the next
[45:05] request.
>> Thank you, Annie. Any questions or
[45:07] comments?
>> Okay, you can go.
[45:10] » Yes, sir. Within the same uh agenda item
summary, we also discovered an error in
[45:16] a previously adopted uh amortization
schedule. Just a little history. Uh you
[45:21] all extended a $3 million loan to
construct terminal 1.0 and it was later
[45:28] increased to 3,815,000.
Unfortunately, the amortization schedule
[45:33] which was adopted as exhibit A uh was
never fully advertised to the additional
[45:39] $815,000.
So, we are asking to adopt the corrected
[45:42] amortization schedule for $3,815,000.
And none of the terms of loan will
[45:49] change. It will remain an 11-year
payback at 6% interest, interest free
[45:53] for the first three years, interest only
for the next three and fully advertised
[45:58] um following those first six years.
Happy to answer any questions if you
[46:02] have them and apologize for the
oversight.
[46:04] » Thank you, Anna. Questions, comments,
anybody?
[46:08] Thank you, Anna. Alex.
[46:17] » Good afternoon, Mayor and Council
members. Uh, I'm here to present a
[46:21] recommended update to the city's list of
designated financial institutions for
[46:25] public funds. The purpose of this
request is to expand our pool of
[46:29] qualified banking partners so the city
can have more options for depositing and
[46:35] investing public funds while maintaining
the highest level of security. All
[46:40] institutions on our list must
participate in Alabama's safe program
[46:45] security for Alabama funds enhancement
which provides collateral protection for
[46:50] municipal deposits.
Every bank we recommend today meets this
[46:54] requirement.
Specifically, we're asking council to
[46:57] approve the addition of uh three
institutions.
[47:01] Ransen bank uh they have formally
requested to be added uh to our list of
[47:06] approved banking service providers. The
finance committee has already reviewed
[47:11] and approved their addition. For
reference, Ransen Bank recently provided
[47:16] the city with a $20 million loan for a
airport terminal 1.5 expansion through
[47:23] the serious 2026b
general obligation warrant de
[47:27] demonstrating their willingness uh to
support important city projects.
[47:32] The next bank uh is Pinnacle Bank. This
is a Tennessee based bank that has
[47:38] requested to be cons considered for
future investment opportunities and hope
[47:42] to have a brick and mortar bank in the
future. And the last one on the list is
[47:48] Huntington Bank, formerly Cadence Bank
or Bank Corp South. Following their
[47:53] merger, we're requesting to add
Huntington Bank to our approved list
[47:58] contingent upon their successful
acceptance
[48:01] uh into this safe program. We expect
this process to be completed by
[48:06] approximately April 30th, 2026,
and they're currently covered under
[48:11] Cadence's safe program umbrella for 90
days. We believe that adding these
[48:16] institutions will give the city greater
flexibility and competitive options when
[48:21] managing our banking and investment
relationships. Uh staff recommends
[48:26] approval of the additional bank
depository institutions and I'm happy to
[48:29] answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Alex. Any questions? anybody.
[48:35] » Alex, why don't you introduce yourself
and tell us what your job is? This your
[48:39] first time at the microphone, so say
hello to everybody.
[48:42] » Hi, my name is Alex Chyavi. Uh, I'm a
county supervisor. So, I'm originally
[48:46] from Northwest Mississippi, as you can
tell by my accent.
[48:51] » I apologize.
So,
[48:54] » thank you, Alex. You're welcome. Good
job.
[49:01] Uh Andy, planning and zoning.
[49:09] » Good afternoon, mayor and city council.
We have a one item before you. It's a
[49:14] pre-zone and annexation request uh for
Riviera Properties.
[49:20] Uh the applicant seeks to uh prezone and
annex a 40 acre tract of property. uh
[49:28] they want to pre-zone 36 acres to R13
and the remainder to general business.
[49:35] The code of Alabama allows
municipalities to pre-zone and annex
[49:38] properties and it shall uh this type
this process follows the same as a
[49:43] reszoning process goes to planning
commission and then to the city council
[49:47] for public hearings. With that being
said, this applica this application will
[49:51] not be presented next week. It'll have
to be advertised and will be on the
[49:55] future city council agenda.
The property is located at the northwest
[50:02] corner of the intersection of Highway 59
and County Road 8 West. It's highlighted
[50:08] in red.
Currently, the property is not located
[50:12] in the city of G Shores. It's in a
portion of unzoneed Bowwin County. Uh
[50:19] and it's currently vacant
uh and vacant wooded
[50:25] with it being unzone. There is really no
uh uh oversight by Bowwin County or
[50:30] obviously the city of Gulf Shores or
because it's in an unzoneed piece of
[50:34] part of Bowwin County. Future land use
plan uh has designates this property
[50:40] with three different future land uses.
The corner which abuts uh state highway
[50:46] 59 is designated commercial and mixed
use with the remainder of the property a
[50:51] combination of residential low and
residential medium future land use
[50:55] designations.
Again the applicant proposes to prezone
[51:00] the corner to general business. It's a
3.6 acre piece of property. You all are
[51:06] aware of uh general business. It allows
a mix of mixture of uh business type and
[51:11] commercial type uses.
and the remainder of the property is
[51:16] proposed to be reszoned to R13.
R133 is a single family zoning district.
[51:22] Right now, I believe the only area of
the city that's zoned R13
[51:26] is located on West Beach. Um it requires
a larger lot size than a lot of our
[51:33] existing zoning. I think the minimum lot
width is 85 ft with a minimum lot size
[51:37] of 15,000 square feet which is greater
than the R14 and the R15 zoning that's
[51:42] kind of predominates throughout the
city.
[51:45] We did analyze this request against the
future land use plan. Uh a goal of the
[51:50] future land use plan is to regularize
the city's boundaries. Also again
[51:56] annexing this property will provide the
city control over any future
[52:00] development.
um BG the commercial mixeduse is
[52:05] supported by the proposed BG zoning and
the uh proposed R13
[52:11] uh zoning complies with the future land
use plan of medium and low density
[52:16] residential uses.
We also analyzed it versus the zoning.
[52:20] Again, the BG zoning district is
appropriate for the 3.6 acre piece of
[52:25] property located at the corner of
Highway 59 and County Road 8 West. And
[52:30] then the R13 is also appropriate um for
the remainder of the property. It will
[52:36] allow will provide some larger lot size
and estate type lots that we really have
[52:42] not uh really seen any subdivi
subdivision or reasonzoning to this type
[52:47] of uh larger lot size in the recent uh
past.
[52:52] And here is a conceptual subdivision
plat that was that showing what the 30
[52:58] the 36 acres divided into 26 lots. They
have submitted this to uh the planning
[53:05] and zoning department. I think this is
tracking to for a May uh planning
[53:10] commission meeting.
[53:13] And with that staff and the planning
commission recommend the city council
[53:16] approve the prezoning and annexation of
the subject properties.
[53:20] Happy to answer any questions.
>> Thank you, Andy. Council, any questions,
[53:24] comments,
audience, anybody?
[53:29] » Andy, thank you.
[53:34] Chief Netdermire,
[53:40] sir. Good afternoon, everyone. No issues
with the font here because I don't have
[53:43] a slide deck. This should be pretty
quick. Um, we took a look at had us some
[53:49] residents ask some questions about the
current golf cart ordinance here in Gulf
[53:53] Shores and they asked why we restricted
usage to 18 and above and I didn't
[54:00] really have a good answer for it. So,
I'm uh coming forward with a proposal to
[54:05] change the limit for golf cart operators
on the street on city approved streets
[54:11] to any licensed driver or somebody who
has a would be a learning permit
[54:16] situation also with a licensed driver
with them.
[54:20] Just a simple little change of the
ordinance there. Some wordage verbiage.
[54:25] » Thank you, Chief. Any questions?
Anybody?
[54:30] » Okay.
Next one, also no issues with font. Um,
[54:36] with growth, with growth comes growth.
Uh, as you all know, the the Gulf Shores
[54:41] International Airport has expanded to 13
destinations and those 13 destinations
[54:46] are in obviously in addition to the six
that we already have. Uh, I got together
[54:51] with Jesse with the airport and we took
a look at the scheduling that is going
[54:54] to begin this May and we cannot cover
the airport anymore with just two
[54:59] officers. Uh we took a you know that the
there were some days where the earliest
[55:05] the officers would have to be there in
order to conduct the sweep of the
[55:09] airport and when the last plane came in
would go beyond a typical 12-h hour
[55:14] shift which would automatically place
officers in an overtime situation which
[55:18] is no big deal but there is also a need
around the airport to on those busy days
[55:24] to adjust the traffic flow. We need an
officer out there to keep the traffic
[55:28] moving when when passengers are coming
in and passengers are picked people are
[55:33] being picked up. So we need an officer
out there. It's just additional flights,
[55:37] additional resources are needed. So
we're proposing for the remainder of
[55:40] this year to add one officer to the
airport, which would be an additional
[55:44] staffing of our current levels.
[55:48] » Thank you, Chief. questions, comments,
council,
[55:54] audience, anybody.
>> Thank you, sir.
[55:57] » Thank you.
[56:07] » I use the same font as chief did. So,
uh, the first item I have before you
[56:12] today is, uh, the replacement of two
UTVs to be used by our beach enforcement
[56:17] unit. Um early March we advertised for
bids for for the replacement of those
[56:22] two UTVs. Uh the bids were open March 26
with four conforming bids. Lowest bid
[56:30] being received from Gulf Shores
Powersports. So we are asking that you
[56:35] award the bid for the purchase of two
UTVs to Gulf Shores Powersports in an
[56:39] amount not to exceed $47,15660.
[56:45] I'll be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Joe. Council, any questions,
[56:49] comments, audience, anybody?
[56:53] » Thank you, D. Chief, you got no?
>> Yes, sir. Asking for more money. Um the
[56:58] uh what we have before you here is a
contract Motorola Solutions to provide
[57:03] an overall digital evidence management
system. If this sounds familiar, we did
[57:07] present in the 26 budget package and it
was approved then. Um, this is for our
[57:12] body warn camera storage, our mobile
video camera storage, and all digital
[57:16] evidence storage. There's a lot of other
components that will help share with the
[57:20] community, have the community share with
us videos of of potential crimes and
[57:25] things like that. Uh, this, as I said
before, this was approved in the 26
[57:30] budget package. However, there was some
wording in the contract that had to be
[57:33] re uh redone to adhere to purchasing
agreement. So, what we're asking for is
[57:39] to enter into a contract with Motorola
Solutions in amount not to exceed
[57:44] 329,875.89
[57:48] and that will be spread over three
budget years. The first one is already
[57:53] budgeted in its account item for that.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
[57:59] » Thank you, DC. Any questions or
comments?
[58:02] Council,
audience, anybody?
[58:07] Thank you, sir.
Public engagement manager Lindsay.
[58:18] Good evening, mayor and council.
Tonight, I'm pre presenting the
[58:22] recommended funding allocations for the
city's 2026 spring nonprofit grant
[58:26] program cycle. As a reminder, the
nonprofit grant program was launched
[58:31] last year to support local nonprofit
organizations that provide a direct
[58:35] impact to the residents of Gulf Shores.
For the spring 2026 cycle, where we're
[58:40] recommending a total allocation of
$6,000,
[58:44] these funds will be distributed evenly
among three nonprofit organizations,
[58:48] each receiving $2,000 grants. The
organizations recommended for this
[58:53] funding cycle are the Little Lagoon
Preservation Society, South Baldwin
[58:57] Community Theater, and the Junior
Women's Club of Gulf Shores. Um, just to
[59:02] summarize what the money will be going
towards, uh, the Little Lagoon
[59:07] Preservation Society will be utilizing
this funding for its oyster gardening
[59:12] program. The Little Lagoon Preservation
Society engages more than a hundred
[59:16] volunteers, including Gulf Shores Middle
and High School students, in hands-on
[59:21] oyster gardening to support ecological
restoration in Little Lagoon. The grant
[59:26] will support the purchase of replacement
oyster cages, an oyster spat, and basic
[59:31] program supplies such as nylon rope and
cleats. And last year, their program
[59:36] produced more than 92,000 oysters to
build a new sanctuary reef. Um, the
[59:41] South Baldwin Community Theater will be
utilizing the grant funding for a
[59:46] facility expansion. This theater is the
oldest continuously operating theater in
[59:51] Baldwin County, and they've reached the
limits of their existing facility. Um,
[59:56] so this $2,000 allocation will co cover
initial site preparation, specifically
[1:00:01] clearing dense brush, so surveyors can
complete assessments required before
[1:00:06] architectural planning. Um, the last
organization, the Junior Women's Club of
[1:00:11] Gulf Shores, is going to utilize grant
funding for the Clothe the Children
[1:00:15] program. This initiative provides
essential clothing to Gulf Shore City
[1:00:19] School students experiencing clothing in
insecurity. Teachers and counselors
[1:00:24] identify students in need and volunteers
from the Junior Women's Club shop
[1:00:29] discreetly for each child spending a
minimum of $250 per students. Items
[1:00:34] include shoes, socks, underwear, shirts,
pants, and seasonally appropriate items
[1:00:39] such as coats. All items are delivered
privately to the school to maintain each
[1:00:44] child's dignity. So, in summary, these
three organizations demonstrate
[1:00:48] measurable community- centered outcomes
in environmental stewardship, arts
[1:00:52] access, and just general youth
well-being. Our staff recommends council
[1:00:57] approves the allocation of $6,000 for
the 2026 spring nonprofit grant program
[1:01:03] with $2,000 dollars awarded to each of
the three organizations. And I'll answer
[1:01:07] any questions.
>> Thank you, Nancy. Council
[1:01:11] questions, comments, anybody?
>> Thank you very much.
[1:01:17] » Next, uh Mr. Han, you've got four things
it looks like.
[1:01:22] » Yes, sir.
Thank you. So, our first item is award
[1:01:28] the bid for our VMS, which is our
variable message board that we have
[1:01:32] throughout the city that we can be able
to display messages for traffic or any
[1:01:36] type of emergencies. Um, so we went to
bid March 12th. U we opened bids and um
[1:01:43] for two VMS boards which we budgeted for
for 2026. Our lowest bib was Armasco,
[1:01:50] but they didn't meet the specifications.
there's things that the guys need in the
[1:01:54] field with it. So, they uh we have we're
dropping that bid and awarding the bid
[1:02:01] to ProLogics IT for 39,76122.
[1:02:07] So, that is that's for two boards. And
so, the beauty on this is if they need
[1:02:12] the police department or fire department
needs a message changed or traffic
[1:02:17] condition change or the uh it's been
remedied, you can turn it off by your
[1:02:21] phone. you can just you type a different
message. So it's it can be handled
[1:02:25] remotely and that keeps anybody having
to go back in traffic, sit in traffic to
[1:02:29] be able to go turn the message board off
for um just so it's a whole lot more
[1:02:35] streamlined. It's worth it for us. So um
so that's that's all I have for that
[1:02:42] that item, but it is a budgeted item.
>> Questions, comments? Anybody? Okay. No.
[1:02:48] » Okay.
Okay. So our next item
[1:02:54] is high school G's high school uh change
order number four. So we have um
[1:03:03] this this change order involves uh
proposed enhancements for the new high
[1:03:07] school project. This change order focus
on bringing the facility to a full
[1:03:12] operational condition. Uh and we kind of
categorize uh this change order into
[1:03:17] three main categories and that was owner
initiated items
[1:03:21] items that the owner needed which the
school needed to be able to open up the
[1:03:25] school. We have some error in emissions,
some errors in the plans that we were
[1:03:29] having to to address and now we're in
the process this past month really been
[1:03:34] hitting hard on our code inspections
with the Department of Construction
[1:03:39] Management. DCM has been running their
inspections every day and so with our
[1:03:44] fire department. So there are some code
requirements that's that's having to uh
[1:03:50] now involved with this. So I just kind
of described those three items how
[1:03:55] they're categorized. So just kind of a
little bit of a history. Uh if y'all
[1:03:59] remember practice pavilion, we we uh 6.8
million that we did for change order
[1:04:05] number one. Uh the school paid us back
for that practice pavilion. So that's
[1:04:10] covered. Change order number two, we had
the low voltage issue and some roadway
[1:04:15] work. Uh that was a 1.5. Then we have
miscellaneous change orders recently on
[1:04:21] change order number three at 750,000.
Uh and then change order four which is
[1:04:26] before you is 1.9 million. So I just
kind of if you look below it where I had
[1:04:32] change order impacts. So normally it's a
a project this size industry standards
[1:04:39] is right around 7 to 10% of your
original contract. We're running at a
[1:04:44] three and a quarter 3.25% for it. So
we've been working very diligently. We
[1:04:50] know somewhere the industry standards is
7 to 10%. I think that was just kind of
[1:04:54] really critical and like everybody to
see. I mean, what's I know that when
[1:04:57] we're coming with the change orders, it
seems like it is and it is a lot, but
[1:05:01] also we're very diligent in this
process. So, I just wanted just to to
[1:05:06] let y'all know that's where we were. So,
this is what was submitted to the
[1:05:10] council um when we're doing the change
order. So, you have the items totaling
[1:05:16] up to 1.9 million. And so, if you notice
that the owner contingency allowance
[1:05:22] replenishment is 1.5 1.4 45 million.
So what I want to be able to describe on
[1:05:31] this on the next one uh is this top
section is what the change orders that
[1:05:38] the architect Vulkart and the city we
have all approved that work was
[1:05:44] completed and that's what the money's
owed.
[1:05:47] The next batch below it, we're all
agreeance with the work, but the
[1:05:51] architect has not fully approved that
work where it doesn't have a designated
[1:05:57] where when the state receives this
change order, it is um it didn't really
[1:06:01] have the number attached, but they can
pay it through a um through the
[1:06:06] allocation of the replenishment of those
funds. The state can be able to reach in
[1:06:10] that pocket and to be the contractor can
charge to that fund. So with the
[1:06:14] remainder of that, the third item,
theoretically we have about $300,000
[1:06:20] left in contingency funds that if
something happens between now and the
[1:06:25] actual end of project of the cert
certificate of occupancy, the CO, we
[1:06:31] have a mechanism to be able to pay the
subs, pay the contractor a lot quicker
[1:06:36] than coming back with a change order. So
hopefully right now we have captured
[1:06:40] everything and we can come back with you
with change order number five which is
[1:06:45] called a deductive change order that
we'll be be able the project gives the
[1:06:48] money back to the owner said we didn't
use these funds. So I just kind of
[1:06:53] wanted just to show you where we fail in
this this alignment where we are. So
[1:06:58] here's kind of some examples of some
change orders that are on here. I mean I
[1:07:03] can go through all these change orders
but there's 40 of them. So, I don't know
[1:07:06] if anybody here want to go through every
single one of them. Uh, but I would, but
[1:07:10] I will. Uh, but change 47. So, I know in
the beginning when we were touring the
[1:07:16] school, I mean, some of y'all have been
when you could walk by the restroom and
[1:07:19] you can kind of see uh into the
bathrooms. So, some schools do have this
[1:07:25] so you can be able to keep maybe some
mischief down or or if anybody's vaping,
[1:07:30] whatever they're doing right now in the
bathroom. But I don't believe they
[1:07:34] really want that the intent to be able
to see anybody at the you know at the at
[1:07:38] the bathroom at the mirror. So we built
those walls that you see on the right
[1:07:43] hand side to be able to shield and it
still has the intent to be able to have
[1:07:48] open air so you don't have to open doors
going to the bathroom. So that's an
[1:07:52] example of that. Another example, and
this is owner initiated, is that uh the
[1:07:57] locker rooms inside the fieldhouse. Uh
there's a there was curbing that was
[1:08:02] called out that the lockers sat on top
of the curbing and it was about 6 in
[1:08:07] high. And if you see coach HUD uh
standing right there and the shoulder
[1:08:12] pads are sitting on top of the um the
locker and the helmet, they couldn't
[1:08:17] reach to the top. So we we had them
remove all that concrete for the curving
[1:08:22] and drop that down 6 in to be able to
have that. That's kind of that was like
[1:08:26] a cop which is um change order proposal
is what that means. So that's 116 and
[1:08:33] that is the examples of what we go
through pretty much on a daily basis of
[1:08:38] a change and if we agree with that
change then they move on then the
[1:08:43] architect approves the actual price of
it. So it goes through multiple hands.
[1:08:48] There's RFIs, ASIS, there's everything
that you go through to be able to make
[1:08:52] sure that all this is done in
compliance.
[1:08:56] So, this is what we're in front of you
now recommending the 1.9 million and
[1:09:01] change order number four. There's a uh
kind of a breakdown between the between
[1:09:06] these items. Um, you know, you have the
the owner initiated which was 484. You
[1:09:12] have DCM issues are really high. Now,
keep in mind this is that the whole
[1:09:16] thing, the total of that 1.9 million.
That's kind of the makeup and the
[1:09:21] percentages or the cost that goes into
each of those buckets.
[1:09:26] Uh so, um that's overall, but I can
answer any questions if you have any.
[1:09:32] Sorry if I got too into detail with it
or I can get in more, but I can answer
[1:09:37] any questions if you like.
>> Thank you. No council, any questions or
[1:09:41] comments?
Audience? Anybody uh want more
[1:09:45] information or any questions about what
he's what he what you've received?
[1:09:51] » If not, no, you can move on.
>> Okay. So, we do have two more items and
[1:09:56] they're they kind of run hand in hand,
but the Gulf Shores High School
[1:10:00] subdivision. So, we had uh GMC did a
subdivision plat to be able to um
[1:10:09] incorporate the the the entire site of
the high school onto one piece of
[1:10:14] property. The prior property this it was
called Green Acres was 40 acres of land
[1:10:20] that that that was on, but eight of that
acres there was still missing of the
[1:10:24] infrastructure that the school sat on.
So, we had to redo a subdivision plat.
[1:10:29] So, we needed to authorize uh the mayor
to be able to sign the plat and have it
[1:10:35] recorded with the probates court and
then turn around to be able to uh after
[1:10:42] that's been recorded and it has the
slide number on it. We can then convey
[1:10:46] uh which is the next resolution is
convey that piece of property to the
[1:10:51] board of education so they can be able
to accept that property. So when they
[1:10:56] get a when we get the certificate of
occupancy for the school, they own the
[1:11:00] property and they can then uh get
insurance on the facility so we can
[1:11:05] streamline it. But so it's two
resolutions in one, but it's the same
[1:11:10] it's a thing same thing
of property per se.
[1:11:15] » So the first one is the for the mayor to
execute to sign the final plat of the
[1:11:19] subdivision and
>> Yep. Yes, sir. The sec second one is
[1:11:22] donating the real property to the from
the city to the school.
[1:11:25] » Yes, sir.
>> Any questions or comments on any of
[1:11:29] those council audience? Anybody?
>> I believe that's a wrap for me.
[1:11:35] » Thank you.
[1:11:40] Grant, you got the end of the show, but
you got five things to do.
[1:11:46] » Yes. I'm anxious to see what fonts show
up for our presentation tonight.
[1:11:51] Um, Michael, this is not the correct
first slide. This is later into the
[1:11:56] presentation. Want to do the school one
first,
[1:12:00] which is the sportslex improvements.
Is that possible?
[1:12:08] It's not possible.
>> Well, we we can do it in whatever order
[1:12:12] you choose.
>> Okay.
[1:12:15] Well, then let's go ahead and start with
our first large group activity permit
[1:12:18] application, which this one is uh um no
surprise to any of us here. Uh since
[1:12:26] 2016, uh 10 years, we have been the host
city along with our partners with our
[1:12:32] Alabama um beaches, sports, and events
hosting the NCAA National Beach
[1:12:37] Volleyball Championship. So, it is that
time of the year again to get the permit
[1:12:43] uh through the mayor and council. This
uh this year's date of May 1st through
[1:12:48] 3rd location is G Place Public Beach. We
will begin setup on April the 20th. Uh
[1:12:55] and the main Gulf Place area south of
Highway 59 around uh the the hangout
[1:13:00] will close to the public on April the
22nd. And that's so that we may start
[1:13:05] bringing in the heavy scaffolding and
the large tenting and start creating the
[1:13:10] the site. This is a controlled site
where they charge an admission fee for
[1:13:14] this tournament. So, we have to put up
the fencing and the trust work to get
[1:13:18] ready for ESPN to come to town to do uh
to do the the television. Um the East
[1:13:24] Golf Place parking lot um will not
close. This is the wrong slide. Um so,
[1:13:30] do not worry about the East Golf Place.
That's the resident parking lot that
[1:13:32] remains open for this entire
championship. So, um we don't have to
[1:13:36] worry about that. And um
the site will return back to the
[1:13:42] public's use after the completion of the
event and the cleanup on May the 6th.
[1:13:48] So, uh this is a a blowup of the site
plan that gets created um south of the
[1:13:54] hangout restaurant along the boardwalk.
Uh large uh scaffolding goes up for the
[1:13:59] TV towers. The blue or purple squares
are for jib cameras for the television
[1:14:05] broadcasting. New this year, if you look
to the left and the right, uh you'll see
[1:14:10] some hash some purple hash marks. Those
are the large bleachers. You'll recall
[1:14:16] about eight months ago, uh you approved
a grant receipt from the the state to
[1:14:22] enhance this event in the amount of
$200,000 and we purchased those
[1:14:26] bleachers. There are 330 seats each. So,
we've added 600 seats to the
[1:14:32] championship site. Uh, public works was
able to take the once of the bleachers
[1:14:36] down to the beach to make sure that we
can uh get them out there on the sand
[1:14:40] and they can be deployed safely. So,
that will uh that will work. The rest of
[1:14:45] the site is very similar to what has
been in the past years and um looking
[1:14:50] forward to a a real good event uh this
coming year. So, this is the schedule of
[1:14:55] events. Um
May the 1st, Friday. ESPN 2 will cover
[1:15:00] the matches. They start at 9:00 and the
final match uh is over at 4 or or starts
[1:15:05] u being played at 4:00. Saturday, May
the 2nd, uh once again 9:00, a little
[1:15:10] earlier um completion after the 2:00
match. And then Sunday, we have one
[1:15:15] championship match at 11:30 a.m. and
that will be on ESPN's
[1:15:21] um national channel.
Um, parking as always is a question when
[1:15:26] you get large events such as this and
that will feed into the the next
[1:15:29] application that is also taking place at
the beach this particular weekend. But
[1:15:34] in addition to this u the public parking
locations we have worked with Ron Durham
[1:15:39] to be able to utilize the site just to
the west of the embassy seat suites. So
[1:15:45] we have uh worked a memorandum of
understanding with him. We'll have
[1:15:48] insurance to protect both him and the
city. And uh we'll have that lot
[1:15:52] controlled with security guard to make
sure that um people that are in town for
[1:15:56] volleyball spectating and volleyball uh
participation are able to use that lot.
[1:16:02] And so tickets are now available. If
anybody would like to purchase tickets
[1:16:07] to um to spectate at this event, we
encourage you to go online and do so.
[1:16:12] And as I mentioned, um, Michelle Russ is
here and Sarah Cooper with the Alabama's
[1:16:18] Beaches and, uh, they'd like to step up
and say a couple words about the
[1:16:21] partnership that we've had over the
years.
[1:16:32] » Thank you, Grant. Michelle Russ with um
Guff Shores and Orange Beach Tourism
[1:16:36] Sports and Events and we're excited to
continue the successful partnership that
[1:16:40] we've had since 2016. Not only does this
event bring tourism, economic
[1:16:44] development and impact to our area, it
also aligns with our brand of Alabama's
[1:16:49] beaches and big beach um small town big
beach. So, it aligns with our brand and
[1:16:54] it also really brings some pride to our
community. a lot of our young athletes
[1:16:58] in the community get to come out and
volunteer or they play with the youth
[1:17:02] event that's taking place in
conjunction. So, we appreciate the
[1:17:05] partnership. It's more than just great
beach volleyball that's televised
[1:17:09] nationally. It's a lot of other things
for our community. So, thank you.
[1:17:13] » And as a quick reminder, we're um this
year 2026 as well as last year 2025 were
[1:17:19] two years that the national championship
was supposed to be in Long Beach, uh
[1:17:23] California. And so we've had them back
here and y'all have already approved uh
[1:17:28] hosting this event until 2031. So we're
gonna we're going to have had the beach
[1:17:33] volleyball championship here for quite a
long period of time. Um and look forward
[1:17:37] to its continuation even into the
future. So be happy to answer any
[1:17:42] questions.
>> Grant, is there fencing on the east and
[1:17:45] west?
>> Fencing on the east and west of the
[1:17:49] volleyball site. Yes, it is a completely
fenced in closed offsite ticketed access
[1:17:55] that you enter through the main gate
which will be down main highway 59 uh
[1:18:00] near the public restroom. Yeah, there
sure is.
[1:18:06] » Any questions audience or council on
beach volleyball
[1:18:13] for the CVB or for us for the operator?
If not.
[1:18:20] » All right. So then, as I mentioned, in
conjunction with the national
[1:18:23] championship on the eastern edge of our
public beach area, we have received
[1:18:28] another large group activity application
for Beachfest. Beachfest USA volleyball
[1:18:33] is a beach qualifier. This is the junior
event that takes place uh over the same
[1:18:38] weekend uh on the West Golf Place beach
area uh south of the town green and and
[1:18:44] the rest the rest of that West Beach
area. So, from 7:00 to 5:00 on the um
[1:18:51] April 30th through May the 3, we'll have
the the uh Beachfest tournament setup
[1:18:56] will begin on April the 24th, and they
will actually um finish their
[1:19:02] tournaments on May the 4th, which is the
Sunday following the National
[1:19:05] Championship. So, this is a big event.
It they put 64 nets and courts out on
[1:19:10] the beach. It's a free event open to the
public. 16 years. Each of the year that
[1:19:15] we've had the NCAA National
Championship, we've also hosted this
[1:19:18] Beachfest uh event. This brings in uh
youth uh beach volleyball teams from all
[1:19:25] over the country um from Texas, from
California, from everywhere. Uh people
[1:19:30] and families are coming in for their
children to participate in this event.
[1:19:33] It's a huge economic impact weekend u
from this uh from this large number of
[1:19:38] teams. This year they'll have music uh
on the uh town green shade sale uh only
[1:19:45] on Saturday night from 5:30 to 8 o'clock
in the evening. They'll be having live
[1:19:48] music. They'll bring food trucks in to
be able to support the e extra people
[1:19:53] that are in town for this this event.
They will also have vendors um selling
[1:19:57] wares uh within the the tournament
footprint.
[1:20:02] Um the parking for this in previous
years
[1:20:07] when we've hosted Hangout Music
Festival, this um West Golf Place
[1:20:12] parking lot has been unaccessible to
volleyball parkers, people parking their
[1:20:17] vehicles there because the hangout had
started building their um cabanas and
[1:20:22] other infrastructure necessary for the
music festival. And they would have put
[1:20:25] large plastic mats out on the sand to
create additional parking. This year
[1:20:29] with no music festival, there will be no
construction going on in our West Golf
[1:20:33] Place public parking lot. So that will
now open up all those spaces for the
[1:20:38] general volleyball participants. They
will also be welcome to park across the
[1:20:41] street in that lot next Embassy Suites
and all the other on street parking uh
[1:20:47] locations within this area. But it will
be a big weekend and a lot of lot of
[1:20:51] people, a lot of spectators in town for
this for this event.
[1:20:55] um mentioned the format, the three-day
tournament, the two divisions. We
[1:20:59] recommend approval of this event in
conjunction with the national
[1:21:03] championship. They do have one
contingency. They do have food vendors
[1:21:06] involved, uh food, uh trucks and vendors
involved. So, we'll need to make sure
[1:21:10] that those are inspected and approved um
prior to them setting up and we'll make
[1:21:15] sure that that's part of this. With
that, I'll be happy to answer any
[1:21:18] questions.
>> Just not a question, but a comment. Uh
[1:21:21] with the addition of the Durham lot, it
will allow some public parking in one of
[1:21:26] the two spaces. Either on the Durham
lot, you don't have to be a volleyball.
[1:21:30] The public can still go and park in the
beach area. If you get there early
[1:21:33] enough, you can park in a normal parking
area. If not, you can park in the Durham
[1:21:37] lot and walk over. So, we will have
residential parking that we've had in
[1:21:42] the past, but in a different location,
different than we've had before. So very
[1:21:46] gracious of Ron Durham to allow us to
use that for all these events that's
[1:21:50] going on within this time frame. So
>> yes sir
[1:21:53] » noticing that any any other questions or
comments council or audience? Anybody?
[1:21:59] » Anything?
>> Thank you Grant. You got more?
[1:22:03] » Not sure what's next. Michael, what's
next? Okay, so I'm gonna step aside and
[1:22:07] let Laura step up for a moment.
>> Gota be a little nimble. Grant,
[1:22:13] » good afternoon.
Um before you we have a application for
[1:22:17] approval for the worship on the green
May 16th.
[1:22:21] It's Saturday, May 16th. This is going
to be at the town green from 10:00 a.m.
[1:22:25] to 400 p.m. Um they'll begin setting up
at 7:00 a.m. and uh we'll break down
[1:22:30] immediately following the event. Um this
is a community worship gathering um put
[1:22:36] together by multiple local churches here
in the area. It's a family-friendly
[1:22:40] event. um going to be filled with food
trucks, music, um you know, uh ministry
[1:22:46] throughout the day. Um it is a free
event and it is open to the public. Uh
[1:22:52] just real quick on the site, there will
be a bike rack that uh is surrounded the
[1:22:57] perimeter of town green with two
entrances on the east and the west side.
[1:23:01] Um as far as parking goes, general
public parking is available for this
[1:23:06] event.
[1:23:11] This has been routed in through the
department for uh department head
[1:23:15] approval. Recommendation is to approve
contingent upon the food vendor um
[1:23:19] inspections and approvals.
Uh with us today is Blair and Jenny
[1:23:25] Hoggood from the Methodist Church. And I
believe do you guys would you like to
[1:23:30] say a few words? Sure.
[1:23:40] So, I'm hop Jenny. Uh, we live on First
Avenue uh right in the heart what's
[1:23:45] usually Hangout Fest or Stand My Boots
Weekend. And, uh, we've been here since
[1:23:49] 2018. I'm also on the bicycle pedestrian
committee and just joined that committee
[1:23:54] this past year. And so we thought this'
be a great opportunity with the hangout
[1:23:58] fest not happening this year to do
something for the community based that's
[1:24:02] not in revenue based and actually really
focus on worship and basically giving
[1:24:07] back to the community. So kind of a
grass grassroots effort here. Um it's
[1:24:12] actually a really good weekend though
because the same weekend is we're
[1:24:14] rededicating the nation under one nation
under God again. Uh there's other
[1:24:18] churches having comm community uh
religious events in the community as
[1:24:21] well. Uh Oyster Bay Baptist Baptist
Church is having a blasting cast event
[1:24:25] for men. Uh Island Church is having a
golf tournament that same weekend. So we
[1:24:29] thought it'd be a great opportunity for
us to bring the community together in a
[1:24:34] very uh healing event. And um Laura's
been great, Gran's been great, Chief
[1:24:39] Nemar's been great giving us guidance on
how to kind of bring this community
[1:24:42] together for this event. And we
appreciate your consideration um in
[1:24:46] putting this on. So any questions do you
have for us? question but a comment.
[1:24:51] Thank you.
>> Thank you. I think you'll be a great
[1:24:54] addition to our community. So,
>> we appreciate it. It's very special
[1:24:58] place to live and we're very proud to be
a member in this community. So, thank
[1:25:02] you all.
>> Thank you.
[1:25:04] » Any questions or comments?
>> You did all the work. I just
[1:25:08] » We knew that.
>> Thank you.
[1:25:11] » Thank you.
>> Any questions or comments from the
[1:25:14] audience or from the council about this
application for approval?
[1:25:19] Okay, Lauren.
>> Um,
[1:25:21] » you have one more.
>> One more. Yes. This is the United States
[1:25:24] Life-Saving Association Southeast
Regional Championship. It'll be held
[1:25:28] here at Gulf Place July 13th through the
15th um 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. uh daily
[1:25:34] for this schedule. Uh they'll begin set
up on um July 12th and everything should
[1:25:39] be back in order by 10:00 a.m. on the
16th. Um for this event there will be
[1:25:44] about 150 participants per day um
competing um in competitions that
[1:25:49] consist of swimming, board paddling, and
running. It is a free event. It is open
[1:25:55] to the public. Uh just a real quick
overview here. There will be barricades
[1:26:00] on the east and west sides. Um bike
rack, again, open to the public. Um
[1:26:06] spectators can watch from anywhere
outside of the back uh the barricades.
[1:26:11] They'll be through access on the north
side. Um again, it's been routed through
[1:26:16] department heads for approval.
Recommendation is to approve um
[1:26:19] contingent upon an updated uh COI. Um
with us this afternoon is Melvin Shepard
[1:26:26] from Fire and Rescue um to answer any
questions.
[1:26:31] If there are any questions,
>> any questions or comments? And this is
[1:26:34] competition we will be competing in also
our our team.
[1:26:37] » Yes, sir.
>> Fantastic.
[1:26:40] home field advantage. I hope
>> any com any comments by anybody,
[1:26:47] » Laura. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:26:51] » And believe it or not,
>> there's one more item.
[1:26:53] » I got one more,
>> but I'm not sure if we have a
[1:26:55] presentation or not.
>> So, we don't have a presentation. So,
[1:26:58] I'll just uh I'll go through my notes.
How about that? So, uh also on your
[1:27:02] agenda for next Monday is uh an item
that's being brought to us at the
[1:27:06] request of the Gulf Shore City Schools.
they for quite a long time has been
[1:27:10] working to um to help expand and to
create some additional space at the Gulf
[1:27:16] Shores Sportslex. So before us is a um
proposal from the Gulf Shore City
[1:27:21] Schools to expand and improve some of
the area at the Sportslex and these
[1:27:26] improvements include uh two separate one
baseball, one softball, a 9,000 square
[1:27:32] foot clubhouse and that would be uh an
indoor hitting facility, indoor locker
[1:27:38] rooms, um coach's office and storage for
the softball team. and then the same
[1:27:45] type of facility for the baseball team.
And in addition to those two constructed
[1:27:51] buildings, in addition to the existing
fieldhouse, we're trying to add square
[1:27:56] footage to the current fieldhouse, which
is significantly undersized. It would be
[1:28:00] a 2100 square foot um expansion to the
fieldhouse, and that would be the locker
[1:28:05] rooms for the soccer teams and for the
track team. and it would be
[1:28:10] appropriately in size for the growth and
the growing portion of our football
[1:28:15] team. Um, also replacing the existing
homeside dugout and visitor side dugout.
[1:28:22] So, if you envision on the screen that
we don't have for you, which I do have
[1:28:27] the presentation, which I can show next
week. um the hitting facility. If you're
[1:28:32] inside the softball hitting facility in
the locker room area, you will go
[1:28:35] directly from your building into your
homeside dugout. And then the dugout on
[1:28:40] the visitor side will be shifted um and
moved slightly further away from the
[1:28:45] bleachers to eventually allow for
additional seating capacity for the um
[1:28:51] for the for the uh future. And the same
with the baseball. So in the baseball,
[1:28:55] the existing batting cages that are
between the softball field and the
[1:29:00] varsity baseball field, those go away
and are replaced with a building that
[1:29:04] would have indoor cages and their locker
rooms and their coaches offices and some
[1:29:10] additional storage. And then the
visiting teams dugout would get slid and
[1:29:15] redone as well to match everything else.
Uh in addition to the building
[1:29:21] facilities, it will work to create
sidewalking and some additional um
[1:29:27] common space in between all these
buildings to to to finish out to finish
[1:29:30] out that area that's really never been
completely finished out. The additions
[1:29:34] will match the existing exterior of the
current uh constructed buildings, which
[1:29:39] is CMU block with some split face and
the same type of metal standing seam
[1:29:44] roof.
So um this proposal was brought before
[1:29:49] our recreation committee and the
recreation committee at that time
[1:29:53] unanimously recommended the approval of
this project and that now is moving to
[1:29:57] the went to the planning commission. And
the planning commission had a cursory
[1:30:00] review of this project because it's uh
on city property being constructed which
[1:30:06] needed to go before planning commission
and the city as the owner of the
[1:30:10] property the city council must approve
before we um move forward and take this
[1:30:15] project out for bid. There is some time
constraint on this project. The goal
[1:30:19] will be to try to um start construction
just as soon as possible so that in the
[1:30:23] spring of 2027 when next year's seasons
arrive that these facilities will be
[1:30:30] ready and up and usable. Uh financial
impact for the city there is none. The
[1:30:35] city school system will be funding this
through grants and through uh program
[1:30:41] fees that are generated by the sports
programs. Um, so recommendation is to uh
[1:30:47] pass a resolution authorizing and
allowing the Gulf Shore City Schools to
[1:30:50] make improvements to the city-owned
sports flex facilities as presented. And
[1:30:55] I'll try to answer questions and I know
that Dr. Aken is in the audience and so
[1:30:58] is Kevin Corkran. Happy to uh to try to
work together to answer any of the
[1:31:03] questions you might have. I'm
>> assuming these are conditioned spaces
[1:31:06] with the with the heating inside and dug
up.
[1:31:09] » They are conditioned spaces.
>> Conditioned spaces that be necessary.
[1:31:12] Any other questions or comments?
Anybody? I
[1:31:15] » have a couple questions. So, will this
be like a land lease or how how do we
[1:31:21] » manage that?
>> So, the current the current thought is
[1:31:23] the land will still remain city land.
The buildings will be owned by the city.
[1:31:27] We'll lease the facilities to the school
system. We'll come up with an
[1:31:30] understanding with the school system so
that they will um similar maybe to um
[1:31:36] the volleyball facility that was
recently uh built at the uh sports flex
[1:31:41] where the operator leases the facility
from the city and they're responsible
[1:31:44] for the the power bills and for any of
the maintenance and upkeep and insurance
[1:31:47] related to those facilities.
>> Do we have a timeline for that lease?
[1:31:52] » We do not have a timeline. I mean once
we get the buildings first thing that
[1:31:56] has to happen is the buildings need to
get bid out to make sure that the dollar
[1:32:00] amount that is being anticipated meets
the budget that is been set aside for
[1:32:05] this. So that'll be the first step and
once that is done then we'll work on
[1:32:08] getting all the legal um leases drawn up
and all that information.
[1:32:13] » I just have a couple questions. The um
you said the existing batting cages will
[1:32:18] go away.
>> Yes. So
[1:32:21] my question for the for the land lease
and just kind of in general is
[1:32:26] understanding the terms of
using our public space
[1:32:33] for our city schools and how we're going
to share that and are we clearly defined
[1:32:38] so that the schools understand and the
public understands so that we're in
[1:32:43] alignment with that. I just I don't I
haven't I don't understand
[1:32:48] I don't see the clear clear definition
between how that relationship's going to
[1:32:53] work or outlined. So that's that's my
question on that. And then specifically
[1:32:57] if our existing batting cages are going
away,
[1:33:02] where does the public use? I don't think
they're going to be allowed to use these
[1:33:06] new batting cages. Right.
>> So a couple things. The the current
[1:33:08] batting cages are the softball varsity
softball batting cages that are at the
[1:33:14] softball field. Those are not used by
our wreck sports programs. The batting
[1:33:20] cages that are in the center, which is
between the varsity field and the
[1:33:24] softball field, they're generally not
programmed for wreck. Doesn't mean that
[1:33:28] if they're not open that they couldn't
jump in there, but the seasons between
[1:33:32] recreation sports and school sports are
almost identical. So when the high
[1:33:38] school athletes are out there using
their batting cages, the rec sports kids
[1:33:42] wouldn't be using them anyway. So really
the batting cages that we're removing
[1:33:46] and replacing with the building are are
truly varsity sports batting cages
[1:33:52] primarily. And then off season, we would
be maybe able to work out anou with the
[1:33:58] school system to let them and their uh
coaches um have some time for the the
[1:34:04] wreck uh sports kids to use those cages,
but we'd have to work that out in some
[1:34:08] of the ou
[1:34:12] looking for
>> like to see that laid out before
[1:34:16] granting permission of our public space
when I know that we're and we've talked
[1:34:20] about this a lot about that we we're
tight on space and we're growing for our
[1:34:26] wreck programs. Yeah. So,
>> if this is going to be a less of a
[1:34:31] public space, that's okay. But I just
want to know that that's clearly fine so
[1:34:36] that our expectations for our wreck
people know because I our wreck does use
[1:34:40] those batting cages. those those
>> not they're not supposed to, but
[1:34:45] » those primary fields have been really
placed for school baseball and softball
[1:34:52] primarily. When the Sports Flex was
initially built way back in the 2000s in
[1:34:58] that first phase, the our relationship
we had with Baldin County School System
[1:35:02] was we the city would purchase and build
the sports facilities for the school if
[1:35:09] the county at that time would build a
high school. that way they didn't have
[1:35:12] to put additional athletic facilities on
school campus because there wasn't
[1:35:16] enough room, etc., etc. So, we um really
for the past seven or eight years
[1:35:24] stopped even renting those two fields
out for summer travel ball tournament
[1:35:30] play where they come and rent fields and
use those because baseball and softball
[1:35:34] have now become year- round sports for
our schools. And so there's really not
[1:35:40] very many times or too many
opportunities for for non school-related
[1:35:44] activity to participate in either those
fields or in those batting cages. So if
[1:35:50] we need additional batting cages, we
have other locations that we can build
[1:35:53] recreation batting cages that might be
more appropriate. Either expand at SIMS
[1:35:57] or add some more at the fiveplex, which
I know the rec sports kids are using
[1:36:02] that now for some of their practices.
that might be a more appropriate use,
[1:36:07] but I don't see this facility being
opened up to just general recreation.
[1:36:12] And I might be wrong. Maybe Dr. Aken
wants to chime in on this, but I think
[1:36:16] this the goal of this is the schools
facilities primarily, and that's what
[1:36:21] this is the request is for.
>> I I would like to comment on that as
[1:36:25] well. I mean, it's not dissimilar to how
we operate our football stadium. I mean,
[1:36:30] that football stadium isn't open for
public use on the football field.
[1:36:34] typically. Um, and I also don't really
see the differentiation between our high
[1:36:41] school students and the general public.
I mean, our high school is a city high
[1:36:45] school and the students at our school
system are citizens of Gulf Shores. So,
[1:36:50] that is a public. So, I mean, as a city,
we're supporting the school system,
[1:36:54] which is supporting residents of the
count of the city. So, I really don't
[1:36:57] see it as a big differentiation between
uh public use or school use. It's really
[1:37:02] one and the same because our school
system is our public.
[1:37:06] » Well, it's the I agree with you overall,
but it's when you're trying to book a
[1:37:11] field, that's where the difference is is
whether you're a coach trying to book a
[1:37:15] field or you're a wreck. So, that's so
that's the use difference. We're all
[1:37:20] part of the same system,
>> but I think both those both those fields
[1:37:22] are predominantly for varsity athletic
use and and so they typically have not
[1:37:27] been rented out as far as I know.
>> Is that correct?
[1:37:30] » That is correct. Yes, sir.
>> I think Jennifer's point is I I agree
[1:37:37] with one of her points and that is we're
woefully short of fields available for
[1:37:42] our youth sports to play on and for our
public. That's a fact and and this is
[1:37:48] not the answer for that. But there needs
to be we need to find an answer. We
[1:37:53] don't have enough fields for our kids to
play in.
[1:37:58] Any other comments or questions or
anything?
[1:38:05] Are you through now?
I don't think you have any more slides
[1:38:09] anyway. So, uh, that's that's all we
have here. Uh, Dr. Aken, schools,
[1:38:16] anything to add?
Any good news to share? Y'all want
[1:38:22] anything? Y'all want anything else? I
hadn't we had heard from you winning
[1:38:25] anything in a while.
>> I always have good news to share. So, um
[1:38:29] first, our director of exceptional
education, that's Dr. Sonia Price, just
[1:38:33] uh wrote some grants. And so, we got a
$100,000 grant to support our existing
[1:38:38] specialed prek class. So, right now we
have four prek classes. We've just also
[1:38:43] applied for three additional prek
classes now that we the new high school
[1:38:47] will open and we can expand. Um and
that's a big need of this community. We
[1:38:52] have about I don't know 60 kids on a
waiting list right now for next year.
[1:38:56] So, um hoping that that comes through
and excited about the possibility. Um
[1:39:01] Dr. Price has written almost $600,000 in
grants that are supporting existing
[1:39:06] programs. So, that that really really
helps our budget. Um the other thing I
[1:39:11] talk about um technology a lot and if I
can get this to open um using
[1:39:16] technology,
>> you better take your spotlight.
[1:39:18] » Uh we we recently
We recently sent our technology teams
[1:39:23] from the middle school and and high
school to Birming or Montgomery for a
[1:39:27] technology competition, coding,
robotics, all those things. And um we
[1:39:33] sent
21 kids. We have 12 first place
[1:39:37] finishes, five, second, and and third,
fourth. So they all they all play. So
[1:39:41] really pleased with how that technology
department is is growing and how
[1:39:45] successful they are. So that's all I
got.
[1:39:48] » Thank you. Anybody
with anything else they'd like to
[1:39:53] discuss tonight?
>> Anything on your mind?
[1:39:57] » Council, I have an update.
>> I have an update.
[1:40:00] » Okay.
>> Uh this weekend, I want to remind
[1:40:02] everyone that the Love Our Locals LOL
Festival will be taking place in
[1:40:05] Waterway Village. Last year, that event
was plagued by inclement weather down at
[1:40:09] Lake Shelby. So, hopefully this move to
the Waterway Village will help that.
[1:40:12] Great weather's forecast. And again,
this is supposed to be a family-friendly
[1:40:15] 3-day celebration uh that brings the
Gulf City of Gulf Shores and the region
[1:40:20] together for a weekend of music, food,
and pride. One of our partners is the
[1:40:23] Seagalass Initiative. They'll be
operating a bicycle ballet. Uh and all
[1:40:27] proceeds that we raise from beverage
sales and what will also be helping
[1:40:30] assist the homelessness uh problem that
the Seaglass Initiative serves to feed.
[1:40:34] Uh we are grateful for that partnership
and we hope we'll have great weather and
[1:40:38] if you possibly can make it out during
one of the three days Friday, Saturday
[1:40:41] or Sunday and support this event because
it is all about our locals. Thank you.
[1:40:46] » Thank you.
If there's no one else have anything on
[1:40:51] their mind, I will ask for a motion to
adjurnn. Move to
[1:40:54] » adjourn.
Second we here next Monday we vote on
[1:41:00] these things.