In a last minute rush, the Eastern Shore city councils and planning commissions finished up business for 2005 and shut down until 2006. The holiday hiatus is visible everywhere. If you live in Baldwin County, the car you got as a Christmas gift will have to wait until 2006 for its tags. However, you can get a license to drive it — but only if you go over to Mobile. Apparently the tempo of life is so much faster on the Western Shore that everything’s gotta to stay open at least 8-5.
As the city councils in Fairhope and Daphne made their final appearances before the curtain came down on the 2005 season, each showed its own distinctive style.
....And speaking of style, Debbie Quinn, of Fairhope, arrived at the council meeting wearing a striking headband of multi-colored Christmas lights, while fellow councilperson, Cecil Christenberry, celebrated the season with a vibrant red and gold tie. Debbie’s bulbs never lit up, but Cecil’s tie positively glowed. Hey — you don’t get this in Suzie C’s column, do you? Politics AND fashion.
But turning to the business at hand, the hot-button issue was (as always) Money. The increase in license and permit fees passed earlier in the month, was less than the figures used in creating the new budget. This results in a built-in shortfall going into 2006. The city utilities, the biggest source of revenue for Fairhope in the absence of a city sales tax, were running a deficit on the gas side due to the spike in natural gas prices and the lag in recovery of costs through customer billings.
Although the mayor’s representative reported a budget surplus, some of those funds are in the library construction reserve. With the library going up briskly, progress payments will eat into those funds equally fast. This is kind of like the Feds using Social Security funds as an offset to the deficit, knowing that when the Social Security surplus is paid out, the real deficit will be much, much worse.
The rezoning and land use confusion continued from a previous meeting, with promises of a comprehensive review of all recently updated sections of the city code. Seems that in the updating process, stuff was lost (It’s a “I guess it must of just fell out of my computer” sort of thing).
What brought this to the council’s attention was an application for rezoning a trailer park on Greeno Road (US 98) to multifamily housing. Depending on the individual or agency reporting, the maximum density permitted was variously, 20, 24, 30 or 38 units — there may have been other numbers thrown out, but I’m pretty sure that these were discussed at some point. The mayor’s staff member then made the cheery observation that lots of other sections of the city code had the same kind of errors.
Mayor Tim Kant was absent — out sick. When he recovers, his top priority should be to fix this problem. Errors like these lend credence to the accusation by Dean Mosher, leader of the Fairhope anti-Wal-Mart group, of incompetence on the part of some of our local officials.
Seasonal fashion statements were absent in Daphne, as were a couple of council members — Bailey Yelding, Jr. and John Lake. Although some committee reports were affected by these absences, the highly structured agenda that characterizes Daphne’s council meetings moved along smoothly. After working through motions and votes on buying sod and hay (rejected), paying freight on bleachers, and buying barricades (Exciting business, isn’t it?), they came to the financial report.
The fiscal trend continues — income is going up, up, up. Reported sales and lodging tax revenue for the most recent month exceeded projections by more than $150,000. Mayor Fred Small noted that every room in the city was occupied, in part Katrina-related, but two new hotels were due to be completed in 2006 and lodging tax receipts should continue to be strong.
High-rise development remains an issue. The high-rise zoning along the Bay in the area of the appropriately named fast food locale, “Hamburger Hill,” is in the process of being enacted — council approval is about all that is needed. Meanwhile developers, with Rick Fine the most visible, are pressing to get spot zoning for high-rise construction at other locations throughout Daphne.
This rush to build, or at least to get approval to do so, is countered by a moratorium on high-rise permits — in effect until Jan. 3. That’s coming up soon, but discussion of an extension is inappropriate; the high-rise zoning ordinance will pass at the council meeting on Jan. 3 — so says Council President Greg Burnam.
And as the old year closes out and we look forward to 2006, let me go on record with predictions of how these unresolved issues of 2005 will play out.
DAPHNE: First, the high-rise zoning on Hamburger Hill will be codified — but spot zoning will be OK’ed for high-rises all over the city, except, of course, for Captain O’Neal Drive. Second, tax money will continue to pour in, providing funds for the proposed new city center, running from Scenic 98 to the Bay. When developed, this area will look pretty much like downtown Fairhope, from Scenic 98 to the Bay.
FAIRHOPE: First, the city council will dare to mention “The T-Word” at every meeting but will never actually vote on a city sales tax. Second, Wal-Mart will build as planned on State Highway 181 and will attract satellite businesses — fast food, mini-mart service stations and low-end retail.
Eventually this area of State 181 in Fairhope will look a lot like US 98 in Daphne. This is what statisticians call “Regression towards the mean,” or “Eventually everything looks about the same.”
Happy New Year! (And save this column)
Contact Pete Gleszer at jubilee@lagniappemobile.com.
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