SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Gridlocked on taking any action until the City Council votes on precursor measures, the Planning Commission spent the lion’s share of Monday’s work session discussing the need to clarify certain language in the city’s zoning ordinance.

Specifically, commissioners reviewed two separate proposals regarding the wording of Article 11, Section 46 from City Attorney David Conner and outside legal counsel Shawn Alves of Stone Granade and Crosby of Bay Minette.

The section in its current form reads “A property owner, or his appointed agent, shall not initiate action for a hearing affecting the same parcel of land more often than once every twelve (12) months.”

At face value, the wording implies that if a zoning request is denied, the property owner must wait a minimum of one year before petitioning the commission for any further consideration of activity of any kind on the particular parcel.

Given the prolonged nature of several recent rezoning requests before the commission, however, the body is seeking to strengthen the language and remove any ambiguity regarding its enforcement.

Permit Clerk Donna Dunning said the language as written does not specify when exactly the one-year clock begins ticking. In turn, commissioners are seeking to clarify, among other things, if the countdown begins when the application is made, when the commission makes its recommendation or when the City Council renders its decision on the recommendation.

Also, Dunning said the item, as written, does not specify if a change in ownership regarding the parcel in question stops the clock.

The item will be considered formally during the commission’s March 8 meeting as a proposed amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance.

Meanwhile, pending rezoning request recommendations for the creation of a contractor’s storage yard and telecommunications district are moot until the City Council votes in each matter. Both Planning Commission requests have been voluntarily postponed by the petitioners until the council takes action during its March 1 meeting.

If the council denies Asphalt Services Inc.’s request to rezone its 6.5-acre parcel on Old Highway 31 from B-3, or general business, to M-1, or light industrial, then the property would not be properly zoned for that activity. The council is currently considering restrictive covenants submitted by the company’s legal counsel that is designed to reduce noise, dust and traffic affecting neighboring property owners.

The commission has also postponed until at least March 8 consideration of Lester Boihem’s request to rezone a parcel midway between Oysterella’s and R&R Seafood into a T-1, or telecommunications, district that would allow for the construction of a cell phone tower.

The next regular meeting of the Planning Commission will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 8, following a 6 p.m. work session at the Gathering Place in the Prodisee Center.