Gulf Shores, Ala. – (OBA) – A short meeting agenda for the Gulf Shores Planning Commission is long on requests for 256 new residences in three subdivisions planned in the city. Expansion areas include one for townhomes across State Route 59 from the Baldwin Regional Medical Center’s freestanding emergency department. Others are in the area near the city’s Sportsplex and east of town near Oyster Bay.

The commission will meet this evening, Tuesday, April 28, at 4 p.m. in a regular meeting in council chambers at City Hall.

Bright’s Creek, west of the Gulf Shores Sportsplex, has been before the commission with requests on this development and is now back with a 76-lot single-family subdivision on 43.85 acres in the 18000 block of Oak Road West. This latest request is for a final subdivision plat approval.

In August and September of 2025, developers came to the city to extend a preliminary plat approval for one year, but were initially denied. City staff recommended denying the extension due to noncompliance with the city's street construction standards.

It was finally approved in October and is back for final approval, but the city wants to be sure the developers have enough money to fund $2.1 million in public rights-of-way improvements. Staff is asking the developers to provide a maintenance surety of $423,212, or 20 percent of the total, toward the $2.1 million “upon approval of the final subdivision plat,” a report from City Planner Andy Bauer states.

The city will seek another maintenance surety of $223,587 for the completed installation of all landscaping and sidewalks, or 150 percent of the estimated cost.

During the meeting, the commission will also discuss:

• A request is for a 116-unit townhome development on the north side of West 34th Street. It would be accessed by the light on State Route 59 at the hospital’s FED.
• A final subdivision plat approval for a 40-home townhome subdivision located on Oyster Bay Lane.
• A request from staff to amend the zoning text amendment to add regulations for covered outdoor seating at restaurants.