GULF SHORES, AQla. — Yes, the residents are sick with worry about a proposed luxury motorcoach park being added to the what they think is an already overcrowded road.

A public hearing on the matter is scheduled at the regular meeting of the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission on tomorrow (Oct. 18) at 6 p.m. at the Baldwin County Central Annex Building, 22251 Palmer St. in Robertsdale. 

Why is a Gulf Shores matter being aired in Robertsdale? The proposed motorcoach site is still in the county and not in the City of Gulf Shores. The plot runs south immediately beyond Woodland Point Subdivision (PUD) and takes an easterly direction south of Woodland Point. Woodland Point residents are not only concerned about the added traffic, but also about an undesignated 60-foot easement on the west side of properties on Shady Woods Court. This easement offers privacy and sound barrier for 29 homes and families. 

County Road 6 is also known as Oak Road. The road is at the fourth traffic light north of the Intracoastal Canal, runs west to Oyster and Sailboat Bays, and since Hurricane Ivan has experienced exceptional growth of residences and commercial properties.

In 2000 the road was neither busy nor crowded. Now a 324-unit complex greets one immediately upon turning west on the road — and this is only a phase of a larger development. Just west and on the south side a modest church building has become a large facility with a private school. Next is the 29-family Woodland Point. 

Another quarter-mile on the right is the Gulf Shores Sportsplex and as one resident said, “You ought to try to turn onto your street after a Friday night football game.”  She also mentioned that just about everyone has flat tires from nails gone astray from the construction sights and damaged windshields from projectiles from the trucks. 

Another resident said that traveling at night is a unique experience, for oncoming vehicle lights are bobbing up and down as if on the waves of the ocean, because of the uneven surface.

“In checking with Gulf Shores Public Works Department, there is no timeline for improving County Road 6,” another resident said.

“Until we have the infrastructure to support such a development as this (the motorcoach park), the commission must carefully consider their decision.”