“Civilization marches on, but I’m not so sure that I approve of progress in certain areas,” wrote Sam Stickney, a Perdido Beach resident, in a newspaper article published 50 years ago.  

Today, 50 years later, the residents of Josephine and Perdido Beach, two small Baldwin County communities, nestled among thousands of acres of pristine, mostly untouched, pine forests, vast tracts of agricultural land, and a handful of small businesses – a gas station and a cove-side bar, among a few others– will soon face the advent of a $110 million dollar bridge connecting their undiscovered country to the twin beach cities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores.  

Wolf Bay Bridge has been heralded by Orange Beach city leaders for nearly two decades now as the only way for the commercially-based municipality to grow since the city was established on an island so-to-speak with bays cutting off its northern, western, and southern limits (Wolf Bay and Perdido Bay) and the city of Gulf Shores laying on its eastern edge.

The bridge will in effect allow Orange Beach to grow, that is develop a slew of residential and commercial properties, in the only direction it can extend its city limits, north via a bridge over Wolf Bay, into the thousands of acres of undeveloped shoreline and land along the bay’s northern shore.  

That is the plan today and the concept is a reality, and most likely going to happen, rather than the idea it merely was in the past, according to an interview with Orange Beach’s Mayor Pete Blalock and City Administrator Jeff Moon.

“We’re far from built out on this island, but the north side (Josephine area) will be more of our year-long residential,” Blalock said, who was appointed to the mayor’s seat in Jan. 2006 to replace former Mayor Steve Russo.  “We’re landlocked east, west, south, and we have only one way to go, north.

“It’s growth, but it’s quality growth.”

The span is expected to be constructed in two to three years, they said.  

Russo, who was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for fraud and public corruption charges, which included accepting an interest in a beach house from a developer in return for a favorable position in City Hall, tried to prod along the bridge project during his tenure as mayor which he held since 1998 until his beleaguered resignation, according to reports.  

In a letter to the “Citizens of Orange Beach and South Baldwin County,” dated May 16, 2001, Russo wrote: “Everyone agrees that the proposed bridge would impact all of South Baldwin County.  To say that our community is ‘landlocked’ is not an apt description.  We are actually ‘water locked.’ If the City is to grow, flourish and hopefully provide a high standard of living and a better quality of life for its citizens…and the citizens in the surrounding area, it must grow and North is the only direction we have.”

The bridge will be designed by Figg Engineering Group, a Tallahassee, Florida-based engineering firm, known for designing the Linn Cove Viaduct, an S-shaped bridge that curves around a segment of Grandfather Mountain, at 4,400 feet, in North Carolina.  

The city has already paid $416,930 for a 118-page feasibility study by Figg, according to contracts obtained by the Onlooker, which reviewed the financial feasibility of the project and the corridor the span would follow.  

The study concluded that a toll-bridge, beginning on the island at the terminus of Alabama 161, spanning the intercoastal waterway, and connecting to Sapling Point, a wetland area near the community of Josephine, would be financially feasible with an adequate amount of traffic crossing the span on a daily basis.  

Otherwise, bridge revenue from tolls may fall short of expectations.  

An adequate traffic level was determined, according to the study, by projecting that the population of Orange Beach would swell from 5,055 in 2005 to 10,199 by 2030, and Gulf Shores, the sister city, from 7,263 in 2005 to 17,937.  

Traffic analysis also included projections of condo unit and hotel growth with an estimated expansion of 400 Orange Beach condo units annually and 81 Gulf Shores units, along with modest hotel room growth on the island from 2010 to 2030.  

The study also anticipates hefty development in the greater Josephine area, according to interviews with developers, which will fuel toll revenue, since the population, year-long and seasonal, is expected grow on that side of the bay with the bridge connection.

If estimated development trends hold true and the average bridge toll is $1.75 per crossing, Wolf Bay Bridge could earn over $390 million in toll-revenues from 2010 to 2030, or $278 million with modest development and traffic, according to the study obtained by the Onlooker.  

Figg highlights two risk factors that could be a detriment to toll-revenue: “a large storm or other catastrophic event that damages the economy and shakes investor or insurers’ confidence in the economy, reducing builders’ ability to sell units as anticipated” and “growth pressures” that “if not managed, threatens to diminish the key qualities (clean beaches, unspoiled natural environment) that distinguish the local economy from other Gulf locations.”

The study predicts, however, at least 5,500 condos, 6,100 single-family homes, apartments, retail space, hotel accommodations, marinas and golf courses to be built around Josephine , which is currently sparsely populated and commercial structures are today practically non-existent, but the area has suitable land available, flat and developable, with willing developers.

David Lawrenz, a large property holder around Josephine is one of those developers who are on board with the bridge prospect.    

Lawrenz, whose family has annexed about 2,500 acres in the Josephine area into Orange Beach, according to Paulette Taylor of the city’s community development office, said in a phone interview that he is waiting for the bridge to become a reality since he plans to build “environmentally-ecologically” sensitive residential and commercial developments.

“What the bridge will allow us to do is an environmentally and ecologically-tourism related development as opposed to what they are doing here (in Baldwin County) right now,” Lawrenz said.  “With everything here being paved over, and built over, we want to preserve this pristine land.”

Lawrenz noted that he is in the design phase right now, and has not broken ground on his family’s massive property holdings.  But eventually, he foresees “mixed-use” development “that would play off the natural integrity of the property, without paving over everything.”

Much of the Lawrenz family’s property and other massive holdings from other property owners are not accessible, for now, since public roads are limited, he said.  

“Just in that vicinity (of Josephine) you probably got 5,000 or so acres that are not accessible,” Lawrenz said.  “I think a lot of people are scared of change, that’s pretty much innate.  Unfortunately, that’s not the way the world works, there is going to be change.”

As for how the City of Orange Beach will enforce development in this pristine area, Lawrenz said, “my impression, they are all trying to do the right thing.”

Mike Healy, secretary of the Josephine Homeowners Association, said that his organization is currently gauging the community’s thoughts on the bridge and the ensuing future development and population boom that are anticipated.  

Since Josephine is an unincorporated community without a city limits, official population records are hard to come by, but the homeowners association is gathering the statistics and preparing to send a survey to residents asking them what they think of the project and the possible changing shape of their small community that may occur when Orange Beach and company begin their development plans.  

“There are a number of us that feel the bridge is financially irresponsible,” Healy said.  “It seems like it doesn’t make any sense.”

“If annexation does take place beyond the Lawrenz property (where Orange Beach would bring Josephine residents into the city limits), then all of a sudden we become financially responsible for an irresponsible bridge.”

He added: “The flavor of Orange Beach, what it wants to do in terms of hi-rise growth (condominiums), the tenor does not make sense over here.”

Over here - the greater Josephine area - is currently under the zoning jurisdiction of Baldwin County, which does not allow hi-rise condominiums in that part of the county.  

So far, Healy has compiled about 900 names of those who own property in the area; some are non-residents with landholdings without a home and some are residents and registered voters.  Overall, he noted, the population is sparse and so is development with only about 380 homes, he said, in the area where the bridge will connect to Sapling Point and the area where the corridor will be built to connect to County Road 95.

“We are on 20,000 acres of pristine undeveloped property…(and) how that will play out is unknown,” Healy said.

Tom Schlinkert, who lives in the Josephine area, is part of a grass-roots organization called the Coalition for South Baldwin County, which he said, “began in 2000, and was formed originally by Orange Beach citizens opposing the bridge.”

The citizens of Orange Beach “have a city that seems to prefer charting a course and getting their populace to believe it,” Schlinkert said. “It just seems like they don’t consult their populace” on major projects.

“Figg engineering put on a dog and pony show to promote the bridge” which had a “lame little form” where citizens could write-in their input.  

That meeting occurred late September at the Orange Beach Community Center where about 100 gathered to hear Figg’s pitch to the public regarding the project.

He said, “zero public comment,” was allowed and it was just Figg “guys in matching sport coats giving an overpriced multimedia presentation.”

Schlinkert added that he does not understand why Orange Beach would put the taxpayers “on the hook” for the bridge, which is estimated to cost $110 million today, and includes in the sticker price an extension of County Road 95 to Interstate 10, which will allow an additional hurricane evacuation route for the island, according to city officials and the Figg Study.  

“All these guys see is money, they want revenue,” he said.  “Why would you put $110 million into the bridge when you have no commitment for development?

“Don’t put the cart before the horse.”

According to documents obtained by the Onlooker from Orange Beach’s city clerk Cathy Constantino, David Lawrenz, Cordelia Munroe, of Wisconsin, and Lawrence Swain, of California, are stated on a city resolution as approving the formation of the “West Ingram Improvement District” and its incorporation into Orange Beach, an area that lies just outside the Josephine community, borders the shoreline of Wolf Bay and also lies adjacent to the Perdido Beach community.  

Improvement districts are exempted from “some sales taxes…on infrastructure” such as roads, waterlines and sewer lines.  The developers still have to pay sales tax earmarked for schools even on infrastructure installed in the improvement district and any businesses would have to pay sales taxes.  

That resolution was adopted April 2004, and signed by former Mayor Steve Russo.

Another resolution, obtained by the Onlooker, also documents an improvement district called “Josephine Properties I,” which wraps around the Josephine and Perdido Beach communities, and also details a similar improvement district agreement, and includes additional names on the resolution other than David Lawrenz, Munroe and Swain.

But, the resolutions do not require development to occur and also there is no-binding language in the resolutions as to whether the properties must stay within the Orange Beach city limits.  

Improvement districts do, however, encourage “the private sector to improve property that will contribute to the tax base of the City and to promote the private construction of infrastructure to accommodate the growing visitor population,” according to Orange Beach documents.

George Barber Jr., a Birmingham dairy magnate who owns a massive amount of property, over 10,000 acres according to city officials, along the shores of Wolf Bay, and also the landing point of the span, Sapling Point, said in a letter to Mayor Pete Blalock, dated August, 10 2007, that he will annex portions of his land into the city once construction begins on the bridge.  

He stated he will annex Sapling Point into the city, and the letter “serves to confirm our intentions to further seek annexation of portions of my property upon completion of our development work.”

Barber’s representative did not return phone calls seeking comment regarding his development intentions.

Blalock said, “Mr. Barber will come into the city in the future,” and he added that Barber’s property “is like a blank slate” with the potential to be “well-planned.”

“The bridge will make a big influence on him,” Blalock noted.

Orange Beach Plans

Mayor Pete Blalock and City Administer Jeff Moon said that the city will take great strides to preserve the natural character of Wolf Bay and its communities and they will enhance the area’s quality of life by providing municipal services, including fire and police protection.

Moon said, “It’s clear to everyone we would have to have some city hall over there,” citing a need for a backup location in case of a natural disaster.   

“If city hall is gone here, we will move operations until it is repaired or rebuilt,” Moon said.

As for development impinging on the local communities, Blalock said, “You’ll have a plan in place.  It will be well controlled,” including site-plan reviews of new subdivisions by the municipal planning commission.  “We have 15,000 acres which is a blank slate and two property owners (Lawrenz and Barber) which have the funds to do a crown jewel for Orange Beach.”

Blalock said, “Mr. Barber has never built anything that wasn’t quality,” and noted that, “anything (built) within the city, there will be (zoning) controls over.”

“We’re a marine community; we are on the water, it’s our livelihood,” Blalock said.  “If we didn’t take care of our waters, we’d be out of business.”  

Wolf Bay was designated an Outstanding Alabama Water - the state’s highest water quality classification and only the fourth waterway to receive the classification - earlier this year by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.  

An Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Alabama Department of Transportation when the Wolf Bay Bridge project was being discussed by the state Highway Department in 1996 as a possible hurricane evacuation route found that the bridge, which was planned for the same span point then as it is today, could present negative water quality impacts including: an increase of erosion and petroleum contamination during construction and highway pollution after construction. 

Stan Mahoney, executive director of the Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, a grass-roots non-profit organization which seeks to protect the watershed, noted that the environmental study by the state Highway Department was done before Wolf Bay was designated an Outstanding Alabama Water.

The designation “adds a higher bar on the environmental criteria” for the bridge project, Mahoney said.

He noted, however, that “Orange Beach has done wonderful things in terms of conservation,” but he would like to see the Figg study, which is economically based, expanded to include environmental factors, including “wetland impacts in the vicinity of Sapling Point.”

Blalock noted that careless development would be “foolish” and that quality, environmentally-sensitive construction would only make “monetary sense” since preserving the area’s natural resources is critical to the area’s success.

Expansion and Annexation

When asked if Orange Beach would annex anyone in Josephine and Perdido Beach without a property owner’s petition to do so, Moon said, “No one can show where we ever annexed anyone against their will.”

If a Josephine resident was annexed into Orange Beach, for example, he will have to pay Orange Beach property taxes in addition to what he already pays the county and school system.   

Blalock said, “…Orange Beach will not annex anyone who doesn’t want to, they have to come to us.”

State Rep. Steve McMillan said in a phone interview that the state Legislature has the authority “to annex (properties) without the will of the property owners.”

He noted that “it’s rarely exercised…as a matter of fact I don’t know of any cases in the county.”

“They cannot be brought in without their consent (a petition) unless it’s by an act of the legislature,” McMillan said.  “I can tell you now there won’t be any annexations without any referendums in these areas as long as I’m in the legislature.”

Overall, Blalock and Moon noted that Wolf Bay Bridge will primarily serve the purpose of extending the city limits of Orange Beach off the island, and secondarily add another hurricane evacuation route in addition to the Foley Beach Express.

As for financing the $110 million project, which they said could cost $200 million, five to 10 years from now, Blalock and Moon said they have entered contract negotiations with Goldman Sachs, a global investment firm based in New York.  

Blalock said that the citizens of Orange Beach will not be “on the hook” for the project, in terms of taxes, since Goldman Sachs will privately finance the project and incur revenue from the tolls.  

There will be no federal or state appropriations for the project, other than a state-financed interchange on Interstate 10, they said.  

Moon said the city has the option to invest in the project and have an ownership, for example, if the city wants to invest, say, $10 million, a figure they noted.  

Blalock said: “I would never nor the council put the city at risk on something like that,” a $110 million investment.  

The overall construction cost, including connecting the bridge to County Road 95, and extending it to Interstate 10, would be funded by private investors, partnering with Goldman Sachs, and ownership of the bridge would go to the investors, they noted.  

According to a memorandum of understanding between Goldman Sachs and Orange Beach obtained by the Onlooker, dated Sept. 6, 2007, “the city has expressed an interest in working with Goldman Sachs on financing, concession, lease, or similar transaction with regard to the proposed construction of Wolf Bay Bridge and associated roads.”

If the city implements a financing plan without Goldman Sachs, the contract stated the city would have to pay the investment firm $250,000 and “would reimburse Goldman Sachs…its actual documented out-of-pocket expenditures incurred in connection with the project.”

$5.7 million will be put up by Goldman Sachs and the City for “planning, engineering, permitting, survey, architectural,…traffic study and other development costs” related to the project, and both parties will share the costs equally from that initial investment, according to the contract.  

Perdido Beach

Residents of Perdido Beach, a small unincorporated community about 10 miles up the road from Josephine, are getting jittery with the prospect of Orange Beach coming into town.

A community of a handful of paved and red clay roads, it was established on a small jetty-like landmass, hugged by two creeks and enclosed by Perdido Bay.

A church, volunteer fire department, a handful of boat launches, older “fish camp” residences from around the turn of the century, and lately a couple of low-density subdivisions have spawned around this historic Baldwin County community.  

Earlier this year, Perdido Beach residents put the breaks on a developer that wanted to build a high-density subdivision: two units on one acre with nearly 170 lots total on less than 70 acres of property.   The Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission rejected the proposal, citing that the development did not conform with the current Perdido Beach residences.    

Perdido Beach is mostly made up of one home on a three acre lot.

“Things are going to change, but do we go with reasonable rationale change or willy-nilly based on the dollar,” said Bob Gross, a Perdido Beach resident, in an interview.

Perdido Beach residents are concerned that Orange Beach will change the development standards, increase population and perhaps find a back-door way to annex them into the city, especially with the advent of Wolf Bay Bridge knocking at their doors, they said.  

Patsy Parker, secretary of the homeowners association, said that a commercial business has not been zoned into the community for years, and added that “you might get approved for a mom and pop grocery store or a filling station.”

“Just about everything down here is a single-family residence,” she added.

“We’re really laid back, and not used to the hustle and bustle of condominiums,” said Al Thompson, president of the homeowners association.  “We want to stay like we were 50 years ago.”