Fairhope council hears wide-ranging objections and requests for fixes to proposed zoning rewrite

Fairhope City Council met in a special session to consider a broad package of zoning ordinance amendments that would change where single- and two-family homes are allowed and tighten rules for townhomes, multifamily buildings, mixed-use development and stormwater controls.

Planning staff briefed the council on the package and said the draft drew from the comprehensive plan and consultant work. Hunter, a city planner, said the team examined roughly 340 zoning parcels across the city and estimated about 100 properties in the historic/tourist commercial B3A and B3B districts would be affected by earlier drafts before staff proposed leaving one- and two-family uses in those particular districts. "Let's not do that. I think we heard enough concern. Let's let's tackle the solution another way. Leave single family, two family alone within B3A, B3B," Hunter told the council, then outlined a possible new "vacation home" category with a business license, off-street parking rules and sign limits for short-term rentals.

Why it matters

The ordinance package touches multiple parts of Fairhope's land-use code and, if adopted, would change the rules for properties in commercial nodes and older mixed-use pockets.…