Fairhope council authorizes mayor to negotiate parking-lot solution after restaurant warns of week-long closure

Brent Barkin, a co-owner of the Blind Tiger restaurant, told the Fairhope City Council on June 9 that city-directed construction near the pier will force his business to close for about a week and asked the council to consider compensation or rent relief.

Barkin said he and his co-owners were notified with roughly five days' notice and that the closure would cost roughly $30,000 in weekly sales and about $4,500 in lost tips for service staff. “When all these other closures, if a customer comes down to the restaurant on a day that they expect the restaurant to be open and the restaurant's not open, it doesn't just mean we lose that day's business,” Barkin said. He told the council he would prefer the construction be completed quickly but asked the city to find a way so his business would not have to borrow to cover the interruption.

After the public comment, Mayor Sherry Sullivan asked the council to amend the agenda to add a resolution “related to the temporary inconvenience of parking lot construction near or adjacent to the Blind Tiger.” A motion to amend the agenda carried; the council then approved language authorizing Mayor Sullivan to negotiate a resolution addressing the temporary parking impact, with any final proposal to be returned to council for ratification.

The council's vote to add and approve the agenda item was taken by voice; the transcript records the motion and its passage but does not record a roll-call tally or the names of the mover and seconder. The resolution as added does not itself set compensation amounts or obligate city funds; it only authorizes the mayor to negotiate terms and bring a negotiated resolution back to the council for formal approval.

Barkin said the restaurant would accept either direct compensation to cover lost sales and tips or a reduction applied to future rent, but he did not present a specific negotiated agreement or quantify a precise request beyond the approximate figures he provided. Council members did not debate or vote on a monetary payment at the June 9 meeting; they authorized negotiation and future consideration by the full council.

Next steps: Mayor Sullivan is authorized to negotiate a written resolution addressing temporary parking-lot construction impacts near the Blind Tiger and must return any proposed agreement to the council for ratification before the city takes funds or other binding action.