ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Just a few short years ago, Pleasure Island was abuzz with the prospects of a “Gulf World” type entertainment center and community across the Intracoastal Waterway from The Wharf.

Now the Orange Beach City Council may declare the site of the now idle Bama Bayou development a public nuisance.

Community Development Code Inspector Chuck Smith has been trying to contact the owners of the property to get construction debris cleaned up on the site on the east side of the Foley Beach Express.

The once-ambitious development to was foreclosed on in April of 2009 and has since been embroiled in a tangle of lawsuits and failed attempts to restart the project.

“I’ve been trying to work with Visions Bank on some of the issues out there,” Smith said at a recent council meeting. “We were supposed to have a representative here tonight, but for some reason he couldn’t make it.”

Smith said the city needs to give the current owners a deadline to clean up the unsightly site.

“Hopefully by Oct. 1, which is what we’ve set for a deadline,” Smith said. “I just want to put a little bug in y’all’s ear. If I can’t get more cooperation from them I think we need to discuss declaring it a public nuisance.”

Mayor Tony Kennon matter-of-factly ran through what needs to be done at the site to meet city requirements.

“If it’s not nailed down, if it’s not held down by a pile-on or up by a pile-on, if it’s not on a foundation, it has to go,” Kennon said. “Or it has to be stored out of sight. All the chain-link fencing to the north needs to be removed, the steel fencing needs to be removed. It needs as natural a state as possible. These structures can be fenced in, but other than that it needs to be back to a natural state.

“That is what we have said is our minimum and if they do not respond then I say we declare it a nuisance and take care of it ourselves.”

Some of the clutter, Smith said, is usable construction materials and the city just wants the area tidied up.

“There is litigation that y’all are probably aware of so we’ve been trying to work with them,” Smith said. “If they could just move materials, that’s usable materials they consider an asset to the value of the property. We’re going to try to get them to move that to the very rear of the property and have that fenced. Anything that’s out there that’s debris, we need to get that addressed.”

A promotional video from 2006 declares the “all-inclusive destination brings the charm and legacy of an old waterfront town to life.” The complex was conceived nearly 10 years ago and was initially called RiverWalk Orange Beach and was to be built on city property.

The city solicited proposals for a year-round tourist draw for the site. In March of 2010 another group of investors tried unsuccessfully to revive the project.

The primary lender for the project, Visions Bank, said the original investors defaulted on a $21 million loan and foreclosed in 2009. Visions then bought the property for $10.3 million in the ensuing auction.

Visions then sued in Mobile County Circuit Court seeking the balance of the debt. A variety of suits and countersuits are ongoing.