Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – Gulf Shores is looking to add a 23-acre parcel about 10 miles west of State Route 59 on Fort Morgan Road on Bon Secour Bay.

The council will address the possible purchase at the May 23 regular session. City staffers are recommending giving Mayor Robert Craft authorization to buy the property for $850,000 including closing costs. Plans are to use the area for educational purposes through Gulf Shores City Schools and the Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism and Sustainability.

“One important component of environmental education programs focused on coastal ecology is access to the many diverse estuarine environments in the region,” city documents state. “These include riparian marshes, pine savannah flatwoods, freshwater and brackish wetlands, maritime forests, and beach/bay dune ecosystems.”

With the purchase, Gulf Shores will have ownership of the parcel in the same area as other nature preserves around Bon Secour Bay.

“Bon Secour Bay is located on the eastern edge of Mobile Bay, at the mouth of the Bon Secour River, and is surrounded by the preserved areas of the Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to the north and the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge to the south,” city documents state. “This creates a uniquely

protected watershed in rapidly growing south Baldwin County, rich in both critical habitat and biodiversity.”

The property includes more the half of the shoreline in Ewing Bayou as well as 800 feet of shoreline on Bon Secour Bay.

At the same meeting, the city will accept a donation of 37 acres its inclusion in the city’s Oyster Bay and Bon Secour Wetland restoration area. The property abuts the 370-acre Oyster Bay Nature Preserve.

During the regular session, the council will also discuss:

• Agreed to accept $12.4 million for the construction of the Gulf Coast Center for Ecotourism and Sustainability from RESTORE Act funds administered through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

• Approving liquor licenses for High Tide Daiquiris and Mimosas and Miso Seafood. High Tide is located at 807 Gulf Shores Parkway on the east end of Little Lagoon and Miso is located at 160 Cotton Creek Drive in the same shopping center as Chicken Salad Chick.

• Appointing Sherry Hoffman, Doug Hillis and Mary Allison Bauer to the Library Advisory Board with Hoffman filling the unexpired term of Bobbie Rooker ending on Nov. 1 and Hoffman and Bauer to be reappointed for another full four-year term each.

• Appointing Orange Beach Councilman Jerry Johnson and Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism President and CEO Beth Gendler each to six-year terms on the Airport Authority.

• Giving $100,000 to the Baldwin Regional Workforce Development Authority to help with planning for the South Baldwin Workforce Development Campus.

• Approving the bid for emergency equipment for the police department from Dana Safety Supply for about $51,000.

• Renewing the contract with PerfectMind for another three years for recreation management software services. By going with the three-year term, the city would pay $48,750 versus renewing it annually at a total cost of $73,250, according to city documents.