GULF SHORES, AL. — The Gulf Shores City Council voted to extend for a second time a moratorium on building permits and site-plan permits for an area of the central city that borders the Intracoastal Waterway.

A firm was hired for $8,800 to study the area and come up with ideas about adjusting the zoning regulations in the area to encourage growth. That study is ongoing, but Mayor Robert Craft indicated this might be the last moratorium he will support. The resolution initially called for a 60-day moratorium in June and it was extended another 60 days in August

Director of Planning and Zoning Andy Bauer asked for 90 days at Monday’s meeting.

“It’s going to take 90 days to get this process to the planning commission and through council public hearings requirements,” Bauer said Monday.

Tuesday he said he hopes the proposed regulations will be ready for presenting to the planning commission on Nov. 22.

“That would make it being approved right around the first of the new year,” Bauer said.

At a September meeting Bauer said he sees “an entertainment type district along the waterway on each side and then enhancing and improving upon some of the local flavor that you already have there, some of the local history. That used to be old downtown Gulf Shores.”

Bauer said the reason for promoting the district was to give “tourists something else to do besides right on the beach if there were some issues with the beach … we could offer then something else to do.”