GULF SHORES, Ala. – At the regular City Council meeting on June 11, three women from an east Gulf Shores neighborhood said they could not vacate houses the city is buying from them on the date of closing.

The homes are along East 21^st Avenue and have had a history of flooding. After a lawsuit brought by the residents, the city agreed to buy the homes.

The women who spoke said requiring the residents to move on the closing dates of the home sales caused them a hardship. They said they couldn’t afford another place to live until the city paid them and they would need more time.

Mayor Robert Craft promised them the city would try to find a way to meet those needs. At the June 18 work session Craft said those needs had been addressed.

“I think we acted to their concerns,” Craft said. “The fact that they are not here tonight probably tells you that we did OK. We really tried to react to their requests and I think we figured out a way to do it and protect the city at the same time.”

Gulf Shores agreed to buy 27 homes in the East 21st Avenue area following the conclusion of a lawsuit in May. The trial on 17 of those claims began in early April and ended with the city ordered to pay $883,000 to 24 plaintiffs. Some were couples who owned properties and some were people who suffered flood damage when they previously owned property in the area. Buying the houses will cost the city more than $3 million.

The houses are in an area bordered by Canal Road on the north, East Second Street on the west, 10th Street and Gulf State Park on the east and East 21st Street and Gulf State Park on the south.

Another trial in the same lawsuit – the judge split the case into two trials according to residents’ attorney Mark Ryan – will involve another 10 properties.

Ryan had requested a hearing before a judge on June 19 but it was delayed Tuesday because of medical issue with one of the parties involved, Ryan said. He said some issues may still need to go before a judge, but said a settlement had been agreed upon.

“In principal, that’s correct,” Ryan said. “We’re working, hammering out some of the details now to fulfill that in principle comprise. What we’ve agreed to is to essentially escrowed $5,000 I guess you’d say as security, perhaps, until the people vacate the premises. They have 30 days to vacate the premises.”

A hearing before a judge is still a possibility.

“We’re going to try to schedule a conference call with the judge next week to the extent we need to clean up any additional details on this,” Ryan said. “What we’re trying to do right now is work with a mediator to reach an agreement on verbiage of the document that will be signed on closing, address post-closing responsibilities, escrow and all these minutia of details.”

One of those involves escrow. The city will let the residents stay for 30 days, but require $5,000 to be kept in escrow. But what if the resident doesn’t have $5,000 left for escrow?

In some instances the purchase price is equal to the mortgage amount,” Ryan said. “In other words there’s no net amount going to the seller. There’s no money to escrow on some of these. We’re having to hammer out some typical details.”

Craft said the city is ready to move forward with the closings.

“We’ve already begun inspecting the properties in advance of that process so we can close in escrow some monies to protect the city from damages that would incur after closing but prior to move out so that we’ll be able to work that out,” Craft said. “Again, we’re waiting on their attorney to respond and we’ll be able to do that and start closing whenever we get all that information into place.

“David Chapman is ready to close. I think there are seven or eight that all the papers have been put together and are ready to close as soon as the attorneys finalize the agreement.”