SPANISH FORT, Ala. — At least one unsightly location on the Causeway could soon receive a facelift following rezoning approval that could clear the way for construction of a 250-room hotel.

The City Council voted 5-1 during Monday’s regular meeting to approve Bay Point LLC’s request to rezone the site of the former Ramada Inn and Las Brisas on the Bay Hotel from R-1, or residential, to B-5, or hotel/motel district.

District 1 Councilman Dennis Dismuke cast the lone dissenting vote citing the lack of a clearly defined plan for the property’s development.

“We seem to have the cart before the horse here,” Dismuke said.

Bay Point purchased the property in 2006, after the pink structure long-considered one of the Causeway’s most visible “eyesores” had been vacated. Per planning protocol, the property was annexed into the city as residential with rezoning requests postponed until cell phone carrier contracts on top of the vacated building expired and relocated to a dedicated tower.

David Diehl of Preble-Rish Consulting Engineers, said only a conceptual sketch for a 250-room hotel exists at this point because proceeding with permitting and site plan development would have been premature before knowing if the rezoning request would be allowed.

“We all know R-1 is not the highest and best use for the property. B-5 seems like a logical fit,” Diehl said on Bay Point’s behalf, imploring the council to uphold the Planning Commission’s favorable recommendation for the rezoning.

“There is a process you step through,” he said, noting appropriate zoning should be secured before “nailing down plans” and “coming back to the city with a site plan.”

Diehl said he understands the council’s concerns over the uncertainty of the project, but site limitations, alone, limit the size and scope of any operation Bay Point can pursue.

Prior to the vote, former city engineer Ronald Gibson spoke during the item’s public hearing, calling a B-5 designation “somewhat intense for that part of the Causeway.”

Although he said he is neither personally in favor of or opposed to the erection of a hotel on that site, Gibson asked the council to consider allowing the Planning Commission to pursue creation of a long-range master plan for the Causeway before making a decision.

“What I’m asking you to do is delay the vote on the rezoning until due diligence has been performed,” he said, calling six to eight months a “reasonable” amount of time for incorporating such a master plan into the city’s pending Comprehensive Plan.

In other business, the council:

• Heard a presentation by Tommy Langham of the Gaston-Lee Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5660 in Fairhope. The post has organized a volunteer honor guard unit that will provide military honors at Baldwin County veterans’ funerals. Langham and Honor Guard Chairman Billy Garner asked for the council’s support and assistance in spreading the word about the free service to the community.
• Announced “Tidy the City” returns May 13-15 when Dumpsters will be placed outside City Hall for the collection of all items except household trash, tires and hazardous materials.
• Introduced an agreement to continue paying the city of Daphne for jail services for at least one more year.