GULF SHORES, Ala. — Throughout the following months, Gulf Shores residents will have the opportunity to become involved in neighborhood meetings conducted by the mayor.

Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft announced this week he would be holding a series of six neighborhood meetings at various points in Gulf Shores. 

The first meeting, covering Craft Farms, Cotton Creek, County Road 4 East, Intracostal Waterway and East of Highway 59, is scheduled to be held at the clubhouse at Craft Farms on Aug. 1, at 9 a.m.  

“We need to understand what is important not just in the city as a whole, but in the neighborhoods throughout the city,” Craft said in a news release. “We hope to get a large turnout and promise to have doughnuts and coffee.”

Other meetings are being planned for the neighborhoods with dates and times to be announced:

-West Gulf Shores

-East Gulf Shores

-Plash Island, County Road 4, Martyn Woods

-Beach Area

-Fort Morgan, The Ridge, Peninsula

-Meeting with local businesses

The goal is to obtain citizen input into a comprehensive plan for the future of the city. City officials will also meet separately with the businesses with the same goal.

At the conclusion, the mayor and other city officials hope to have enough diverse input to draft a plan for the next five years for the residential and business community. 

The entire City Council and staff will attend each meeting, not just to answer questions but to get to know the neighborhoods and the people in them better. 

“Our future can best be shaped by getting input from the neighborhoods and try and fit those requests into an overall strategy for future development and operations,” Craft said.