ORANGE BEACH — Back in the old days, there were three distinct villages at the eastern end of Pleasure Island consisting of Orange Beach in the area of Doc’s Seafood Shack and Waterfront Park, Bear Point on the eastern end and Caswell in the center.

Caswell mostly consisted of fishing cottages, fishermen with charter businesses and the like on north shore of Bayou St. John.

Although there are some newer houses in the area today, it pretty much looks the same as it did back in the three-village days.

Sandy two-track paths wind through the area and cans for the automated trash truck and mailboxes appear from time to time.

But Caswell is about to see some potential changes. Landowners John Ruduloph, James Rudolph and Frances Wilkerson have proposed to build an18-lot subdivision on land directly across from Orange Beach United Methodist.

Their request will go before the Orange Beach Planning Commission on Monday in City Council Chambers at 4 p.m.

When the developers first presented a plan to the Orange Beach Planning commission they were seeking a planned unit development allowing them to build 40 homes on the same plot.

Residents showed up in force to oppose the plan and the Planning Commission itself wasn’t favorable to the idea. The 18-lot subdivision requires no PUD because it is currently zoned for single-family homes and the density requested is also within current zoning guidelines for the property.

“I believe they’ll probably show up again,” Community Development Director Kit Alexander said of residents. “It’s from what I understand one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city. A lot of these people have owned these houses for a long, long time. And this is a big change for that block of land.

“I think they are just expressing their concerns about the way it’s being developed in light of what this land means to their families.”

The land has waterfront on Bayou St. John and the plans call for residents to be able to park boats there as well.

“I think the main concerns related to whether they would be building a large pier and provide slips for all of the lot owners,” Alexander said. “And the placement of the access to the pier was of concern.”

TANNIN DEVELOPMENT

Empty land behind the Village of Tannin on the beach road in west Orange Beach has seen two attempts for development come before City Council only to have them both rejected.

On Aug. 18 a third one will be the topic of a public hearing in Council Chambers and it looks to have a better shot at coming to fruition that the previous two.

“We had a planning commission and people showed up from the Village of Tannin expressing support for it,” Alexander said. “This is a resort and it’s showing 60 lodging rooms, 10 luxury suites and 12 rental cottages. And they are all going to be rentals.

“They are calling it a boutique hotel featuring family reunions, weddings with an emphasis on eco-tourism being adjacent to the Gulf State Park.”

There are two parcels owned by Tannin Inc. according to Baldwin County tax maps, both abutting Gulf State Park and the Villages of Tannin neighborhood. The western parcel plan had a luxury RV resort and 29 residential homes but it was rejected.

On the east there is a triangular-shaped parcel where a developer wanted to build 23 triplex buildings in what is known as Parks Edge. The parcel abuts Gulf State Park on the north side and west sides.