DAPHNE, Ala. - If Academy Sports wants to build a retail outlet on a previously undeveloped 12-acre site on U.S. Highway 90, they can do it without city incentives. That’s the message that three members of the Daphne City Council sent to a developer who asked for $1.9 million in tax refunds in exchange for bringing the big-box sports retailer and two other businesses to a proposed complex just east of Mobile Infirmary and near the north entrance to Lake Forest.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city and New Horizons Retail Development was rejected with a three-to-three vote. Councilman Kelly Reece abstained.

Council President Cathy Barnette, who voted against the MOU along with Council members John Lake and August Palumbo, told the council that she hoped Academy would come, but she couldn’t support it under the proposed terms.

“The Eastern Shore is special,” Barnette said. “We have to be highly selective to who are neighbors are. We can say ‘there is no cost, they are just bringing revenue’ but there is a cost to our environment, there’s a cost to our community, there is a cost to our aesthetic. I do believe that the community does not want to see Daphne modify its ordinances or sell out our community for one development.”

Councilman Palumbo agreed; likening the proposed public-private partnership to a form of “corporate welfare” while expressing concerns about the lack of an environmental impact study in the developer’s plans.

Palumbo also read a portion of an email received by the Council Monday afternoon from the corporate counsel of governmental affairs for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

“We believe that successful competition requires a level playing field for all. And unfortunately the use of Daphne’s public funds to support the proposed New Horizons Retail Development would favor one retailer over others and create an unfair competitive advantage in the marketplace. We do not believe the proposed economic incentive package to support the development and construction of this small retail outlet is in the best interest of the city,” the email stated.