GULF SHORES PONDERS WATERFRONT ACQUISITIONS

Published By Mobile Press Register
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

GULF SHORES -- City officials during a Monday work session discussed the potential acquisition of two waterfront parcels -- one on Little Lagoon, the other on the Intracoastal Waterway -- that would expand adjacent parks.

The first, which Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty brought up, sits on the eastern edge of the city's Canal Park, a public boat launch under the Alabama 59 bridge.

The property, Doughty said, is owned by the Lillian Callaway family partnership. A representative of the partnership, Fairhope accountant Xavier Hartmann, is offering the tract for $3 million but would entertain offers, Doughty said Monday.

Hartmann's office confirmed Tuesday that the partnership was selling the tract, which is comprised of four lots and is 176 feet wide and 267 feet deep.

"I just wanted to put it on the table and see how the rest of the group felt," Doughty said. "Is that number something we'd like to look at? Would we like to have it? Where would it fall on our priority list?"

Doughty said that besides expanding the municipal park, the property would be a good landing spot for a high-speed ferry proposed to carry passengers from Mobile to Gulf Shores.

Public Works Director Chuck Hamilton said he visited the property recently with a ferry landing site in mind.

"It's an ideal site in my mind -- not perfect, but it's a good site for a high-speed ferry," Hamilton said, adding that the dilapidated wall separating the land from the canal would have to be replaced and some dredging may be necessary to make the small harbor work as a landing.

"Even if they never do a high-speed ferry, the city would have waterfront on the Intracoastal Waterway," Doughty said. "And right now as things have kind of slowed down a little bit, it might not be a bad time."

In recent years land along the shipping channel has sky-rocketed in value as developers have bought up large tracts and proposed high-end marina-based resorts. While some of those projects are well under way, including nearby Bon Secour Village and Bama Bayou and The Wharf in Orange Beach, some have been placed on hold as resort real estate sales have slowed.
"When that waterway develops as it's planned, I think that could be key to that whole area," Councilman Philip Harris said of a ferry landing.

Mayor G.W. "Billy" Duke III told council members that he and City Administrator Ernie Smith would engage the sellers and possibly order an appraisal on the property.

After that discussion, Councilman Robert Craft said that he had recently been contacted by officials with the Alabama Sheriff's Boys & Girls Ranch who are interested in selling the organization's parcel on the south side of Little Lagoon.

According to Baldwin County tax records, Alabama Boys & Girls Ranch Inc. owns a 100-foot by 175-foot residential lot at 1640 W. Beach Blvd. that backs up to Little Lagoon. The appraised value assigned to the property last year, which includes a large beach house, is $469,200, according to the Revenue Commissioner's online database.

Tax maps show that the property sits adjacent to the eastern edge of the city's Little Lagoon Pass park.

Again, Craft said he wasn't certain where such an acquisition would rank among the city's priorities, but said federal money could help with a purchase.

"The city's made some really astute moves in the past using federal funds to acquire waterfront," Craft said. "Where we are now, it'd certainly be worth looking into both of these sites."

Duke and Smith both said they would check to see if federal grants, particularly those related to public transportation for the waterway property, were available for such purchases.

Most recently, Gulf Shores finalized the purchase of a dilapidated gas station and boat launch with 300 feet on the north shore of Little Lagoon in August. Mo's Landing, as the property is known, cost the city $3.5 million and will be transformed into a public park and boat launch, city officials have said.