Daphne City Council denied an ordinance that would have rezoned a property at the northeast intersection of Main Street and Randall Avenue to allow for a new office space.

The property in question is located at 805 Randall Ave. on a lot currently zoned R-2, Medium Density Single Family Residential. DAK Investments LLC, which owns the property, asked city officials to rezone it to B-3, Professional Business.

Prior to council’s vote during their meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, the proposed rezoning came before Daphne Planning Commission during a meeting on May 28 and failed to obtain a supermajority vote required to recommend approval.
The proposed rezoning was presented during a public hearing on July 20, when property owner David Kahalley said it will be a significant private investment and argued the property already sits between two spaces that are commercial uses.

“This isn’t a big development. This is a one-lot use,” Kahalley said. “Our goal is simple. We are not trying to expand commercial zoning in the area. We are completing what already exists along that north side of Randall Avenue. It’s a puzzle piece that fits perfectly. We want to replace an obsolete low-end rental with a quality professional office.”

However, some residents spoke against rezoning the property during public comment.

“If this rezoning is approved, we can expect that the north side of Randall will eventually become a commercial strip and will be devaluing the property,” said Patsy Miller, who said she lives across the street on Randall Avenue. “Therefore, we have all come out this evening to ask y’all to please consider not approving the rezoning of 805 Randall Ave."

Chris Cartmill, who also lives on Randall Avenue, told council that Kahalley previously spoke to residents about his proposal. Cartmill said he had a phone conversation with Kahalley, telling him the neighborhood was against the rezoning.

“He, on the phone, reiterated back to me that he would maintain his word and if the neighborhood was against it, that he would withdraw his proposition at that point,” Cartmill said. “Obviously, that never happened. That’s why we’re all here today.”

Kahalley told council he did have a conversation with residents, asking them if they oppose it to let him know now so he didn’t have to go through the rezoning process and he could move in another direction. He said he also sent a letter to adjoining neighbors laying out the process along with his phone number, saying he received only one call.

“We paid another rezoning fee to come back, to give ourselves a more restrictive zoning so that it will be crystal clear that the only thing we wanted to put there was office use with the potential of having an (accessory dwelling unit) or some sort of residential thing.”

Councilwoman Stephanie Ganey-Messinger raised concerns over the possibility that the property could eventually be sold if the rezoning is approved and questioned his commitment to the property.

“That is my concern always in changing from R (residential) to B (business),” Messinger told Kahalley. “Is it going to actually come to fruition? Because we have recently had that happen on Main Street where it was changed and, imagine that, it changed and they sold it. You and I both know if you got property inside the city on the main street, you’re going to make a whole lot more money. Now Randall is not a main street, but it’s awfully close to it.”

Kahalley said it is not his intent to sell the property, saying another company he owns, Shamrock Properties, is “totally out of space” at its current office, located on U.S. Highway 181, and that there is an idea to build their new office on Randall Avenue.

“We can’t turn left into our property anymore,” Kahalley said. “That’s gone. Those days to access our property are finished, and it’s about to get 100 times worse, actually 200 and a Walmart times worse once [it’s built]. We’ve got to start to consider where our next landing pad is going to be.”

Following the public hearing on July 20, the ordinance was presented for a final vote on Monday, Aug. 3, where the city council declined to rezone the property.