FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The city’s planning department will soon propose changes to the local zoning law that will require a greater percentage of pervious, or porous, materials in parking lot construction.

“The city of Fairhope has no requirement for mandatory pervious pavement,” said Gregg Mims, the planning department director. “On previous projects, the planning staff, the planning commission and City Council have negotiated pervious aspects of some projects. I am currently reviewing our options. At this point, I believe 25 percent would be a good starting point.”

Mims discussed plans for changing the city zoning ordinances regarding parking lot construction during a tour Monday of a number of building projects and subdivisions in the area. Members of the planning staff hosted the tour aboard a county bus for members of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

During the tour, Mims pointed out construction practices his department favored and others where the department would like to see a different approach taken. He also emphasized some pending projects.

“If you can visualize this (area) being green again,” Mims said, as the van drove south on Greeno Road toward Gayfer Avenue. He described a project to put a planted median and pedestrian improvements on Greeno Road from State Road 104 to Gayfer Avenue “The whole point is to put the ‘green’ back in Greeno Road,” said commission member Dick Charles.

As the van drove past the new skateboard park plaza currently under construction at the Municipal Park on Volanta Avenue, someone asked whether the concrete and material to be used in that 4,000-to-5,000-square-foot project would be pervious materials. No one on the bus said they had an answer for that question.

The group visited more than six subdivisions in the area, some under construction, some completed.

“There have been so many subdivisions built in this area during the past few years that they’re running out of names for the streets,” Mims said as the bus drove through The Waters subdivision.

The group also drove through the Wal-Mart parking lot, following the long L-shaped retention pond behind the store.

“The outside one-third of this parking lot could have been built with all pervious parking,” Mims said. “(The proposed changes in zoning law) are something that we’re going to be bringing (to the commission) right away.”

One of the last stops on the bus tour was the new employee parking lot at Thomas Hospital.

“This is a good example of pervious parking,” Mims said. “The run-off from this property was cut in half.”

The parking lot combines paved driveways with gravel parking spaces amid a landscaped setting with trees and flowers throughout the parking lot. The retention pond has a fountain in it at the entrance on Morphy Avenue.

“To give you an idea, this (retention pond) would be about six times what it is now,” Mims said, pointing to the small retention pond at the edge of the parking lot. “It’s also cost-effective for the builder. That’s why this change in zoning law is important.”