ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — For months the city of Orange Beach has been toying with new ordinances regarding lodging.

“It was chocked full of inconsistencies and enforcement problems,” Al Bradley, planning commission chairman, said at a Feb. 3 public hearing. “The council has been inundated with zoning text amendments.”

In an attempt to clean up the ordinance Bradley, along with city planner Griffin Powell, City Attorney Wanda Cochran and former Community Development director Jim Lawson have been working to develop cut-and-dry requirements for hotels and condominiums.

Bradley said the problem arose a few years ago when previous council pulled the ordinance for a hotel after the condo-hotel was introduced on the market.

The idea was used to work around the required parking requirements for condominiums.

“In a reaction to that the planning commission and the city council in a rapid vote appealed all the hotel rules,” Bradley said.

From that point every hotel was required to follow the same regulations of a condo, including density and parking requirements.

The across-the-board regulation weighed unfairly against hotels and led to the dissemination of the hotel market in Orange Beach.

In an effort to open the door to hotels again, Bradley and his team determined exact definitions for condos and hotels, densities for lodging rooms and parking needs for each.

The proposed amendment defines a condo as having a form of individual ownership, being used for private residency and having common areas operated by a property owners association, which has no deviation from the original definition.

A condo-hotel is identified as having individual ownership, primarily accommodating transients, but is operated under a single management as a hotel.

According to the amendment, hotels have single ownership and management for all rooms, accommodates only transients and is operated and licensed as a hotel.

A lodging room is a one-story room that can connect to abutting rooms by interiors doors. It must have an independent ingress/egress from a common interior or exterior hallway or public area, the amendment reads. It is intended for transients, not permanent dwellers. It may have a mini-refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker, but cannot have a full kitchen or laundry facilities.

Julian McQueen, who owns Industry Hotels, was impressed with Bradley’s proposal.

“I just want to commend the process here,” McQueen said. “The process here has been the best I’ve seen.”

Industry Hotels currently owns and operates two hotels in Orange Beach — the Hilton Garden Inn and the Holiday Inn Express. McQueen said his company handles business across the southeast and is pleased with the proposal.

“I have enough developer in me to be slightly dissatisfied and you’ve met your mark if I’m slightly dissatisfied,” he said. “It’s a realistic approach to a very difficult question.”

While the developer praised the new ordinance, the council debated whether it fully addressed all aspects of the lodging industry.

“My question would be, is the suite, possibly with a kitchenette, an animal that exists? And is this (ordinance) a detriment to that?” Mayor Tony Kennon asked.

Kennon showed concern the ordinance would place restrictions on suites, causing more issues to deal with.

But Councilwoman Joni Blalock supported the ordinance.

“The issue was making our city more appealing to hotels, and (the ordinance) does that,” Blalock said.

The ordinance had its second reading last night at the Orange Beach Council meeting.