Spanish Fort council adopts zoning change, sign rules and multiple contracts; approves park design, road work and recycling agreement

The Spanish Fort City Council on July 21 adopted three ordinances and approved several resolutions covering zoning, signage, audits, park design, road engineering, police-school services, traffic-safety grants and a recycling services agreement.

The council unanimously approved Ordinance 7-19-2025, an amendment to the city’s zoning table (Table 6.4) to allow the sale of automobile parts (used parts enclosed within a structure) in the B-3 General Business district with planning commission approval. The change followed a planning commission recommendation to restrict certain auto-related uses to B-3 rather than B-4 in some locations.

Council members also adopted Ordinance 7-20-2025, an amendment to the sign ordinance to permit one digital electronic sign per business in business and industrial zoning districts (B-1 through B-5 and M-1) under specified limits. The ordinance allows static images that may change no more than once per hour, requires a light sensor to dim displays, limits brightness at night and prohibits signs within 100 feet of residential districts and off-premise advertising. If a malfunction occurs, the sign must freeze on the last image or display a black screen.

The council considered and amended Ordinance 7-21-2025, rezoning property at 9917-A Spanish Fort Boulevard. The ordinance initially proposed rezoning the former CVS site to B-4; the planning commission recommended rezoning to B-3, and the council amended the ordinance to reflect B-3 before adopting it.

Among resolutions the council voted to approve:

- Resolution 15-46-2025: Authorized continuation of audit services with Fiviso Group Inc. The contract amounts described in the meeting included $33,000,$40 for the city audit (as read in the meeting transcript) and single-audit services and separate audit work for the Highway 98 and Highway 181 cooperative improvement districts at $5,475 each (exhibits attached to the contract). The council approved the resolution by roll call.

- Resolution 15-47-2025: Authorized a professional design services contract with Thompson Engineering for Phase 1 design and construction administration of Honor Park; the design fee stated in the meeting was $480,000. The mayor said the project is funded by a $3 million grant (Go Mesa) that covers engineering costs rather than city general-fund dollars.

- Resolution 15-48-2025: Authorized the mayor and police chief to execute a memorandum with the Southwest Alabama Regional Highway Safety Office to reimburse overtime and related expenses for selective traffic-enforcement programs including impaired-driving enforcement and seatbelt emphasis campaigns.

- Resolution 15-49-2025: Approved an agreement with Sawgrass Consulting for design, construction oversight and inspection related to the Highway 31 connection and extension with Eastern Shore Boulevard at the Eastern Shore Center. The contract amount is $738,112 for design and related services; meeting materials cited an overall project cost estimate of just over $7,000,000 and noted that Baldwin County agreed to fund half the construction cost through its 30-q program.

- Resolution 15-50-2025: Approved a contract with Sawgrass Consulting for roadway evaluation, data collection, GIS coordination and mapping to prioritize maintenance and resurfacing; the contract amount shown in the meeting was $79,400.

- Resolution 15-53-2025: Authorized the police chief to execute an agreement with the Baldwin County Board of Education to provide APOST-certified uniformed officers to assist with metal detection at school athletic events; council suspended the rules for immediate consideration and adopted the resolution that night.

- Resolution 15-54-2025: Authorized a recycling services agreement with the Solid Waste Disposal Authority of Baldwin County. The agreement, as presented at the meeting, would provide recycling service to city residents for a fee of $10 per month, with additional carts available for $5 per month; a clause referencing city-owned carts was struck because the city contracts for trash collection and does not own the carts.

All items were adopted by roll call votes recorded in the meeting. Council roll calls in the transcript show affirmative votes by Council members Smith, Gustafson, Perry, Wynne, Brabner and Mayor Ravner for the motions recorded; no recorded dissenting votes appeared in the transcript.

City Attorney David Connor described the technical limits of the sign ordinance changes and summarized contract scopes and amounts during the meeting. For several projects the city noted that funding would come from non-general-fund sources: Thompson Engineering’s Honor Park work is part of a $3 million grant and the Highway 31 project includes Baldwin County participation covering half of construction costs.

The council did not debate all items at length; several motions received brief discussion before unanimous roll call approval.