A proposed Dollar General store — the sixth in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area — planned for a lot 11 miles west of State Route 59 was recently denied a parking space and wetland setback variance by the Baldwin County Board of Adjustment.
“The wetlands setback variance was primarily where the driveway is proposed to come in,” county Planning Director Vince Jackson said. “There was a section that they were proposing a partial fill but it also brought up the wetlands setback, which is 30 feet, so they needed a variance from that.”
The move has the developers, the Broadway Group of Huntsville, now asking the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) for permission to fill in more wetland on the property to construct the required parking spaces. County rules call for one parking space for every 200 square feet of retail space, so the 10,800-square-foot structure would require 54. Broadway Group was proposing 36 on the site.
Building in coastal areas and disturbing wetlands will also require a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit as well as a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service relating to beach mice.
“It’s a lengthy process,” Jackson said. “A lot of hoops to jump through and that’s typical of the Fort Morgan area.”
The wetlands request for the new Fort Morgan store was open to public comment from Oct. 30 until Nov. 14 and ADEM is now reviewing those comments before making a recommendation. The proposal is also under review by the Corps, according to ADEM records. Mitigation for wetlands impacts would be through the purchase of mitigation credits from an approved mitigation bank.
“I believe since the variance was not approved, they are now seeking to fill that entire wetland,” Jackson said.
Fish and Wildlife had previously issued a permit based on a parking lot with 36 spaces, but the Broadway Group is going back to ask for more area to fit in the required number.
“That was based on the area that had initially been approved,” Jackson said. “Because the parking variance wasn’t approved, it’s my understanding that they were planning to go back to Fish and Wildlife to see if they could get approval for some additional disturbance so that they could meet the required parking ratio.”
This would be the sixth Dollar General south of the Intracoastal Waterway and the second on Fort Morgan Road. There is already one 4.1 miles west of State Route 59. Others are on State Route 59 two blocks north of the beach in Gulf Shores and three are in Orange Beach on Perdido Beach Boulevard, or Beach Road, on the west side of town, State Route 161 just north of the City Hall complex and on the south side of Canal Road across from J&M Tackle.
Those four were all developments by the Broadway Group. The developer was denied variances for construction of a fourth Orange Beach store on Canal Road East near The Keg restaurant and lounge after nearby residents voiced concerns in March. The lot is zoned for general business and a store could still go there if the rules of that zoning districts are followed and the developers don’t ask for variances.
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