ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – In a sometimes emotional

public hearing, the city was placed in the middle of a controversy

between the developers of Phoenix West II and of the Village of

Tannin residents.

Bridging the gap between the two comes down to

just that – a pedestrian bridge.

“I have a lot to think about in the next week

and will look what was discussed in the planning commission

meeting,” Councilwoman Joni Blalock said. “It’s not an easy task

for us to decide. It would be nice if there were a win-win

situation here.”

“This is just a very, very difficult

decision,” Mayor Tony Kennon said. “I don’t think there are any

winners in this.” The council is expected to vote on the requested

changes tonight.

When the plans for construction of the 30-plus

story tower on the city’s western edge were approved, developer

Brett/Robinson agreed to add certain public amenities. The company

recently appealed to the Orange Beach Planning commission for

relief on three items in the agreement.

“We’re not here to argue about what happened

six years ago,” partner Tom Robinson told the council in a public

hearing. “We’re just here to let you know that the Phoenix West II

project needs help. All we’re trying to do is finish this

building.”

Of the things Brett/Robinson wants to

eliminate in addition to the bridge are building public restrooms

on the city’s right of way on the east side of the project and a

delay in paying a $2 million donation to the Cross Island Connector

fund.

 “Amending that to an impact fee assessment

that would be payable in 60 equal monthly installments at two

percent accrued and the first payment would be 30 days after the

last issuance of the (certificate of occupancy) for the Phoenix

West II project,” City Planner Griffin Powell said. 

Brett/Robinson operates at least 18 other

condo developments besides the $245 million Phoenix West II. The

company was given $37.2 million by BP to continue the project and

developers say they added $15 million of their own money.

The pedestrian bridge brought out the most

impassioned pleas with Robinson detailing how prices for units in

Phoenix West II have dropped due to the recession and effects of

the 2010 oil spill.

“We don’t have the money,” his partner Gene

Brett told the council. The city’s planning commission voted 5-1 in

favor of amending the agreement and allowing the changes

Brett/Robinson asked for.

Tannin developer and homeowner George Gounares

said the village homeowners were promised the overpass and he has

commercial property there he’s waiting to develop as soon as it is

built.

“Obviously we’re not very happy about the

overpass not being built,” Gounares said. “I know it was a promise

made to us as a concession for having that big building across the

street. This was a promise made to Tannin.

“I take exception to some of the things their

lawyer said and should not have said. Tannin is not a failed

project or a no-place project.  The residential lots are 100

percent sold – you can’t get more successful than that. And I own

less than half the commercial.”

Having that “captive” audience from an

occupied Phoenix West II would drive commerce in the area, Gounares

said.

One of the proposed solutions was a traffic

light and cross walk, of which there are at least two on Alabama

182 in Orange Beach now.

Tannin resident Jim Jennings said that would

not be a safe option considering the hazards of crossing a

five-lane road coupled with traffic from the proposed Cross Island

Connector that will come onto Alabama 182 about 150 yards east of

where the crossover, if built, would be.

“Having that pedestrian crossing just isn’t

going to work,” Jennings said. “I will not take my grandchildren

across Perdido Beach Boulevard to the beach. I will get in my van,

we have a 40-foot easement, Tannin owns it, I will drive across the

street from the gate to go to the beach.”

Jennings, a real estate agent, said he

believed property values would go up $100,000 in Tannin if the

bridge and commercial town center were built.

“You folks agreed to something,” Jennings

said. “Every day I look out my office window and I see this

32-story building sitting there and I think ‘that’s OK, we’re going

to have a bridge someday.’

“And here we are tonight, now we want to

change it?”