The Orange Beach City Council rejected a rezoning request by one of the iconic builders on the Gulf Coast to build an 82-feet, 90-unit condominium on Cotton Bayou.

Past city leaders had promised residents on the north and south banks of the bayou that nothing would be built above 50 feet on the north side of Perdido Beach Boulevard. The issue came up during the Jan. 16 regular council meeting in a request to rezone the properties and allow for the development.

After a two-hour public hearing, councilors voted for unanimous consent to suspend the rules and consider the item immediately then voted 4-1 against the rezoning with Mayor Tony Kennon abstaining and Councilmember Annette Mitchell voting yes. Jeff Silvers, Jerry Johnson, Joni Blalock and Jeff Boyd voted no on the request. 

There are eight parcels fronting Perdido Beach Boulevard that are owned by a company connected with Caribe and Turquoise developer Larry Wireman called October Investments. A larger parcel north of those and fronting Cotton Bayou is listed in tax records as owned by the city.

The Cotton Bayou parcel was deeded to the city – along with a 90-foot right of way west of the Turquoise towers – to be used for public benefit in exchange for concessions on zoning regulations for Turquoise Place.

Both parcels were turned over to the city in 2010 and are now both the subject of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Larry Wireman and Turquoise Properties in 2020 to reclaim the properties and a $400,000 “development fee” requested by the city as a condition of giving the go-ahead to build Turquoise. Part of the deal with the city was to develop the larger tract for public use and possibly a fire station or public safety building.

Even though the parcels are still listed as city-owned, at the Dec. 11 Orange Beach Planning Commission Wireman and October Investments received a 7-1 favorable recommendation for a seven-story condo building with 90 units on Cotton Bayou that would include boat slips for use by owners in the development. On the 90-foot tract, developers hope to put a three-story building with two units.

Residents turned out in force to speak against the condo development. Instead, they urged the council not to rezone the property from single-family residential to planned unit development to allow for the seven-story development.

Concerns raised besides the height was the plan to put 90 boat slips on Cotton Bayou increasing boat traffic on an already crowded waterway. Residents questioned how that would also further hurt the water quality of the bayou saying it only flushes once every seven days.

Negotiations continue between the city and Wireman and company to settle the lawsuit by returning those two properties on either side of beach road in exchange for property owned by October Investments near the campus of Orange Beach Middle/High School including the property housing a wholesale ABC liquor store. A third property mentioned is east of Callaway Drive leading into the Justice Center. A resolution detailing the terms of this exchange appeared on the Nov. 14 council meeting but was pulled back before the meeting and no action taken.

“We have horse traded for two years,” Kennon said. “The city of Orange Beach is getting property that is very valuable in exchange. So, we just didn’t roll over and lay down and let Mr. Wireman dictate what would happen.”

According to the January 2020 filing, “The Cotton Bayou Tract Deed provides that the Cotton Bayou Tract will “automatically revert” to Turquoise Properties, L.L.C. as grantor if it is not used exclusively for: (a) public recreational and related purposes, and (b) the construction and maintenance of a municipal fire station, police station, or public safety facility.” The Cotton Bayou Tract has not been used as required, and Turquoise Properties, L.L.C. as grantor has not consented to Defendant’s alternative use.”

The beachfront parcel deed was to be for “pedestrian and vehicular access to the Gulf of Mexico, the adjacent public beach and adjacent properties for beach maintenance and police, fire and emergency purposes, and (b) use by the public for pedestrian access between Alabama Highway No 182 and the Gulf of Mexico.”

The filing says this property has not been used as intended in the deed and should also revert back to Turquoise Properties. Baldwin County tax records valued the Cotton Bayou parcel at $1.8 million and the beachfront tract at $2.1 million.

It also alleges that the $400,000 development fee wasn’t used as intended and the plaintiffs are seeking repayment of the money.