SPANISH FORT, Ala. —  The Planning Commission has postponed until February consideration of a rezoning request for the creation of a telecommunications district should plans for property in the city’s existing T-1 district fail to materialize.

Building Official Bruce Renkert said it is his understanding cell tower developer Lester Boihem, owner of Two-Way Communications Co. in Orange Beach, is pitching the alternative site as a “backup plan” should the owners of the property housed on a recently rezoned parcel several hundred feet away face environmental issues or fail to muster the needed wireless carriers in a timely manner.

“Lester has provided me with a folder full of supporting materials, including letters from the carriers,” said Renkert, noting he did not have time prior to Monday’s regular meeting to adequately review the information.

The commission voted to postpone Boihem’s proposal for the property located on the north side of Battleship Parkway between Oysterella’s and R&R Seafood until the Feb. 8 meeting. Mayor Joe Bonner abstained from the vote.

Barry W. Andrews, an attorney with Lyons Pipes and Cook PC in Mobile, said the owners of the property already zoned for tower construction are moving plans forward with “all due haste” and oppose granting another property “down the road T-1 zoning.”

In September, the commission recommended site plan approved for the transformation of 1263 Battleship Parkway into the city’s first telecommunications district, and the ensuing City Council approval cleared the way for construction of a 150-foot cell tower on the site of the former WLVV radio station.

Boihem, who submitted the original site plan on behalf of anticipated property owner Archangel Radio, learned within weeks of gaining council approval that DeLand, Fla.-based Buddy Tucker Association Inc. purchased the property instead and owner Theodore D. “Buddy” Tucker opted not to retain Two-Way’s services.

Boihem has contended since that time the new owners do not possess the proper environmental permitting nor verbal agreements from the intended carriers to proceed with the project quickly enough to prevent the wireless providers from circumventing the process and possibly shortchanging Spanish Fort residents on adequate Causeway reception.

“If I can get it up and running by the end of the first quarter, I can keep the four carriers who have already committed to me. If not, they’ll put in their own short-range (network) that captures the I-10 corridor. That’s great for them because it captures 80 percent of their customers, but it cuts the city out entirely,” Boihem told the council during a November work session.

Andrews assured the commission his client means neither Two-Way nor Boihem “no harm” and wishes only to proceed with plans already granted approval.

Mike Johnson of Summerdale, the tower developer selected by Tucker to complete the project, said plans are progressing quickly, awaiting only a wetlands development permit from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, and he does not foresee a problem because the “impact is going to be very small.”

In other business the commission recommended preliminary and final subdivision plat approval to carve a 5.75-acre lot from an 80-acre family parcel on Jimmy Faulkner Drive, north of Spanish Fort Middle School and east of Stone Brook subdivision.

While plans for the remaining 74.25 acres have not been made public, the requested subdivision would create D’Olive Acres and would entail construction of a primary residence.

City Hall will be closed Jan. 18 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, with offices reopening at 8 a.m. Jan. 19.

An informal commission work session will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in the conference room at City Hall.

The next regular meeting of the Planning Commission will be held at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8, following a 6 p.m. work session at the Prodisee Center.