Spanish Fort officials outlined a proposed expansion of the Eastern Shore Center cooperative improvement district and an accompanying road and athletic-field project, and the city council voted to approve the plan in concept and forward it to the Baldwin County Commission for consideration.

David Connor, a city staff member, told the council the project would use a donated 80-foot right of way from Eastern Shore Lanes owners Sonya and Butch Cole to provide a new access road and create connectivity between Old Highway 31 and Eastern Shore Boulevard. “They have agreed to donate 80 foot right of way across their property,” Connor said, adding that the donation was “the linchpin” that allowed the project to move forward.

The project as described by Connor would pursue county infrastructure funding that the council said has been made available through a Baldwin County program (referred to in the meeting as a roughly $30,000,000 fund). Connor said the county indicated it could fund 50% of road construction costs while the city and other partners would provide the match. City officials estimated the roadwork at about $7,000,000 with the city’s share around $3,500,000, and said they intend to use CID revenue rather than general-tax dollars for the city portion.

Why this matters: the proposal combines transportation improvements sought by the county — including alternate routes to ease congestion on Old Highway 31 and near Rockwell Elementary School — with a regional-scale athletics complex that the city says would meet local need and support sports tourism. Connor described a conceptual site with up to 10 baseball fields, a “miracle field” for special-needs users, turf surfaces for multipurpose use, parking, sidewalks, and stormwater ponds that could serve as regional detention.

Supporting details and partners: Connor said Malbus Plantation and Lewis Sterling (their representative), Sawgrass Consulting and engineer Ursula Godwin, and the Eastern Shore Center CID are active partners. He said the CID has produced income streams that paid earlier improvements and repaving for Eastern Shore Boulevard, and that the CID had expressed consent to the general concept at a recent meeting.

Connor characterized the timing as urgent: “the stars have lined up, they are lining up,” and said about $14,000,000 of the county funding had been pledged toward municipal projects when he spoke, with earlier reports that $10,000,000 had been pledged. He urged the council to show support so the county commission would consider the agreement on its upcoming agenda.

Council action: A council member moved to “approve the project in its general terms, subject to approval of any other agreements deemed necessary to finalize all contracts and agreements between the respective parties.” The motion was seconded and carried on a roll-call vote (recorded votes: Smith — yes; Gustafson — yes; Perry — yes; Wynne — yes; Brabner — yes; Mayor — yes). The motion stated it was an approval of the general concept and that all contracts and agreements would be finalized later.

Open items and next steps: city staff said final engineering, land-acquisition negotiations with Malbus Plantation and Eastern Shore Lanes, and related intergovernmental agreements remain to be completed; Sawgrass was working on drawings and cost estimates to support grant applications. Connor and council members said the next immediate step is to transmit a positive message to the Baldwin County Commission so the county can consider the project in its near-term funding decisions.

No vote in council tonight created binding construction contracts; the council’s vote expressed support for the concept and authorized staff to move forward with necessary agreements and to coordinate with the county and CID.