FAIRHOPE, Ala. - On Monday, the Planning Commission approved a new tourism resort district in Fairhope that was designed to accommodate a development plan at The Colony at the Grand private residential community. This decision may help facilitate a settlement pending litigation involving the 184-acre project across Scenic Highway 98 from the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club and Spa.

“To be quite candid, the future success of the Grand Hotel is heavily dependent on The Colony at the Grand,” said Jason Tickle, Colony at the Grand project manager. “It’s a huge win-win for our area, for the Grand and for our city.”

The commission’s approval for the new district also included changes in local subdivision regulations and approval of a specific request by The Colony at Grand to establish the new district concurrent with the project’s annexation into the city.

That annexation was not addressed specifically by any of the commission members, but the zoning change and the development’s request will be heard within the next month or so by the City Council, where the final decision on those issues will be made.

Only one resident raised questions about the project during a public hearing Monday, at which Tickle and the Grand Hotel’s general manager spoke in favor of the rezoning and development requests.

“It doesn’t integrate or invite the community to participate in the (development),” said Gary Gover, referring to such features of the new project as private streets and other amenities that will service the residents and not the general public.

Gover said most of the tourism-related features of the area were across Scenic Highway 98 at the Grand Hotel.

Although city staff and several commission members stated the new district was consistent with the Comprehensive Plan that contemplated such a district, none of them addressed the specific language of that section, which states that such districts “must include land uses that are tourist attractions such as significant resort hotels, convention facilities, golf courses, or other outdoor recreations facilities.”

Gover said most of those items were located outside the new district at the Grand Hotel.

A planning and department staff member said last week that the new district was consistent with the goals of the Plan because it linked to the Grand Hotel, which does include those items mentioned in the plan.

“I don’t like the creation of such an isolated community,” Gover said after the meeting. “I don’t think it’s a healthy thing to do.”

The private community’s development plan will be capped at 637 residential units, with one tower of no more than 100 feet tall, and at 108,000 commercial square footage.

It was the current tower of that height and number of habitable floors that prompted a lawsuit filed by a citizen group against The Colony at the Grand and the city of Fairhope that issued a building permit for it.

During the public hearing Monday, Tickle said his company and the city had been working closely with that group since last fall during development of the proposed tourism resort district.

Several city officials and staff said last week that the proposed tourism district and development plans for The Colony at the Grand could facilitate a settlement in the pending litigation.

“My heartburn is the tower,” said Mayor Tim Kant and one commission member at Monday's meeting. “We’ve already got one tower and now we’ve got another being added.”

He encouraged The Colony at the Grand to consider not adding an additional high-rise tower and to also plan for increased traffic caused by the new development on Scenic Highway 98 by having automobiles use the other two entrances to the development.