DAPHNE, Alabama—At the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Commission’s first full meeting last Wednesday, the group approved Baldwin County engineering staff to develop transportation plans for the newly established agency over the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission.

The Baldwin County Highway Department won out over the SARPC to direct planning for the MPO in a 7-2 vote by the agency’s board.

Vince Calametti, division engineer with the Alabama Department of Transportation, and Loxley Town Councilman Michael Allegri voted against the proposal.

At a meeting in June, board members were split over using the county or SARPC to oversee planning.

The MPO was established this year following the 2010 census, which showed the Eastern Shore met population requirements for having such a transportation-planning agency, with 57,000 people in an area with at least 1,000 residents per square mile. The coverage area for the new MPO includes Daphne and portions of Spanish Fort, Loxley, Fairhope and unincorporated Baldwin County. It is governed by a nine-person board.

Cal Markert, Baldwin County engineer, told the board they needed a staff that was close to home and knew the needs of the area.

“Fairhope, Daphne and Spanish Fort are not anything like Mobile,” Markert said.

The MPO will receive between $125,000 and $172,000 in federal funding to pay for staffing and planning. The MPO will have to provide 20 percent of that amount in matching funds.

Markert told the board that the office could be housed in the Fairhope Satellite Courthouse and county office costs could be used to offset those matching funds the cities and Baldwin County would have to pay as members of the MPO.

During the MPO’s organizational meeting last month, Fairhope and Daphne were given one more representative in addition to their mayors. The Fairhope City Council approved its president serving as the additional representative, and Gregg Mims, Fairhope’s city administrator, attended the meeting for Council President Lonnie Mixon at last week’s meeting.