SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Residents at Monday’s Planning Commission meeting aired views about a proposed rezoning of property located at the northeast end of Water Tower Road.

Family members who own the property want to subdivide one parcel into three lots, which will require rezoning from R-1—single-family, low-residential—to R-4—manufactured mobile home district.

Four lots were planned to be rezoned, however, family members decided they want to combine parcels A and B and place one mobile home on that piece of property.

The planning commission has not received a revised plat for the request of three lots showing parcels A and B combined, according to City Attorney David Conner.

The applicant—who must file another rezoning request, one that shows three, not four, lots—removed the preliminary and final plat approvals, and rezoning request, from the agenda.

A public hearing on this property will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at The Gathering Place—at the intersection of U.S. Highways 98 and 31—in the Prodisee Center.

Since the decision was made to remove the item, though a public hearing had been set for Monday, Mayor Joe Bonner said it would only be fair for residents in attendance to air their opinions on the rezoning request. The original public hearing was then changed to “public participation.”

Residents with property that backs up to Water Tower Road said they were concerned that property value would decrease if more mobile homes were added to the area.

There are already multiple mobile homes, and a mobile home park, on Water Tower Road, according to planning Chairman Carl Nelson.

Some residents said they are concerned that one mobile home could open the possibility of another mobile home park, if rezoned.

“To change from R-1 residential single-family to manufactured homes … doesn’t sit well with me living that close,” Hardy Bryars, a Wakefield resident, said.

Beverly Spondike—who lives on Wellington Court—also said she’s concerned about property values; parcels A and B back up to her backyard. Spondike said when she and her husband moved to Spanish Fort in 1993, “the value of our home and the area we live in was very important.”

“We just don’t think this is a good idea for our neighborhood or our city,” Wakefield resident Randy Brooks said. “We should be improving the city, rezoning up rather than rezoning down.”

Resident Brenda Brown said she doesn’t have a problem with just one mobile home, however, she wouldn’t want a mobile home park at this location.

Also Monday, the commission will give a positive recommendation to the City Council to allow a lodge to be constructed in a wooded area on Spanish Fort United Methodist Church property.

Boy Scout Troop 177 plans to construct this lodge; commissioners’ only concerns were about fire protection since the closest fire hydrant is about 500 feet away. Spanish Fort Fire Rescue’s normal requirements call for a hydrant to be within 400 feet, planners said.

The church will own and operate the lodge; the city is not responsible for maintaining this area or the wooded path that will lead to the lodge.