The Gulf Shores City Council adopted a resolution a 60-day suspension of the issuance of building permits and site plan review applications in “certain areas of the city” Monday at its regular meeting.

The area encompassed by the moratorium is directly south of the Intracoastal Waterway and directly east of Alabama 59, stopping immediately before Meyer Park. The reason for the suspension is to give the city time to develop a new zoning plan for the small area, Planning and Zoning Director Andy Bauer said.

“In this area, we’re looking to come up with, basically, some design guidelines to overlay over the existing zoning, so that we can hopefully incentivize development and help this area develop in a certain way,” Bauer said. “Basically, we’re looking at some of the character it currently has and will build on that character so that development proceeds in the future, and hopefully exactly what the city foresees for this area.”

Bauer cited the Land Use Plan, which the city adopted in late 2008, saying that it calls for the development of specific district and neighborhood plans. The Planning and Zoning Commission has set a deadline to develop the design plan.

“Our goal is to have this done within a maximum of 60 days so that we don’t negatively affect any landowners out there,” Bauer said.

“If we think we could achieve this in a 60-day time frame, that would be a really good step for us to take,” Mayor Robert Craft said. “But I think we need to be perfectly honest, if we’re going to engage. We have done some pretty detailed stuff in the past that have taken a lot longer.”

The Commission took the plan to an outside consultant who said the plan could be done within a month, according to Bauer.

There are currently no building permits activated in the area highlighted by the moratorium. There are also no residential zone properties that will be affected by the suspension.

No building permits currently activated right now. No residential zone properties in this area that will be affected by the moratorium.

For the future, Bauer expressed the need to change ordinances to comply with the City’s goals.

“Currently, our zoning ordinance prohibits, I believe, some of the development designs we’d like to see in this area,” Bauer said. “So, hopefully we can add some flexibility in there and get the type of development we all want to see.”