Elected officials in Gulf Shores recently received a petition signed by a number of citizens who regularly use Jack Edwards National Airport stating their desire to renamed the street known as Airport Drive to Jim Griffin Drive.

According to a resolution discussed at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, the Airport Authority has agreed with the request of the petitioners.

Letters were sent to residents and businesses located on Airport Drive and so far, there have been no objections to the name change.

Mayor Robert Craft, however, expressed concern that changing the names of city streets might not be something that the city wants to start doing.

“Very few people have meant more to me than Jim Griffin,” Craft said. “He was important to my family and important to me personally, but I do believe that the practice of renaming these streets, if we open this door, is going to be hard to shut.”

Craft said the City needs to be careful about the process because of the confusion it may cause.

Griffin who served as a minister in the Methodist church for more than 40 years, was a veteran of WWII and was considered the unofficial goodwill ambassador at Jack Edwards Airport. He was passionate about flying and would often take visitors on sight seeing flights over the Gulf of Mexico.

“A lot of cities, especially in recent years due to the popularity of GPS systems, have gotten away from even considering renaming streets because of the confusion is causes,” said City Administrator Steve Garmon. “As much as we might think of individuals who have contributed to the City of Gulf Shores in the past, it really is a problem when we rename streets.”

Craft said he was aware of a similar application that was likely to come before the council in the future.

“I dearly loved Jim Griffin and would hate to not do this for him, but I think we need to be aware of the complications that this could create for our community.”

Councilman Steve Jones suggested that, with the increased growth at the airport, possibly a building or a facility could be named in Griffins honor.

“It is problematic,” Jones said. “While you want to do something to recognize the work of an individual, things are not the same as they used to be when this was not such an issue to do.”

Councilman Joe Garris seemed to be in favor of renaming the street after Griffin.

“I agree with a lot of what has been said, but there are a lot of people who were anchors in this community, and Jim was one with his work at the airport,” Garris said. “I think we need to give these people a certain recognition where it would mean a lot to their family to have this done. Maybe we have to draw the line somewhere, but I think at this point, this is not the time to draw the line.”