O.B. halts multi-family building permits for 9 months

O.B. halts multi-family building permits for 9 months

During its March 18 meeting, Orange Beach City Council passed a nine-month building moratorium on residential multi-family and subdivision applications. The moratorium will give the city time to complete studies on utility and infrastructure capacity at a time when the city and Baldwin County are experiencing unprecedented growth.
Fairhope City Council approved a similar nine-month building moratorium in February.
The moratorium on multi-family dwellings and single-family residential subdivisions with three or more lots with 9,000 square feet does not apply to the city’s Beach Overlay District.
“The growth in Baldwin County is beyond the norm, and I think we all know that,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said at the meeting. “If it goes unchecked, we will either be trying to catch up or we won’t ever catch up. What we are trying to do is get ahead of the growth and evaluate the infrastructure.
“Everyone’s looking at it in Baldwin County, and everybody in Baldwin County that lives here wants us to do it,” Kennon said. “There are some tough decisions to be made.”
Around two-thirds of Orange Beach’s 15,000 sewer taps belong to businesses and generate significantly more tax dollars than residential properties. Property taxes gathered from residential properties is not enough to sustain the level of services Orange Beach provides to its citizens, Kennon said.
“I think for every one of us, it’s a conundrum. Most of us here are all about property rights and the right to build. But at the same time, as elected officials, our job is to make sure we maintain our quality of life and do the best we can to keep our taxes low,” Mayor Kennon said.
The cit will address storm water drainage, wetland conservation, pedestrian safety, public parking, traffic efficiency, pedestrian and vehicular traffic, wastewater sewage capacity, infrastructure, emergency services, potential subdivision amendments and parking availability concerns during the moratorium.
“It’s a lot to be looked at and evaluated if you’re fixing to see the possible doubling of your residential community in a very, very short period of time,” Mayor Kennon said. “I think we’ve all worked very hard over this period of time to be extremely fair in walking this fine line between facilitating a healthy growth and at the same time not diminish our quality of life for those who live here full time.
“In the next five years, at the rate of the building, you are looking to as many as 7,000 new homes,” Mayor Kennon said. “We are the ones who have to deal with it and one of two things has to happen: There is a reduction in services, or an increase in taxes. We want to keep everyone’s taxes low and maintain the level of services we provide. The bottom line is if we don’t do anything, there will be an effect on your quality of life and the quality of us as a city. We need to get ahead of it.”