FAIRHOPE — A request to develop 1.77 acres on U.S. 98 as a five-unit commercial site led to a discussion on whether compact car parking is primarily being used for golf carts and should be changed.
The Fairhope City Council voted 3-1 on Monday, April 11, to approve the site plan for Polo Crossing, located south of Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home on Greeno Road.
During the discussion, council members questioned whether compact car parking spots should be designated on some business sites. The plan included several smaller parking spots designated for compact cars.
Hunter Simmons, city planning director, said that with fewer compact cars being driven in Fairhope, the smaller parking sites tend to be used by golf carts. Golf carts, however, cannot legally drive on U.S. 98, where the development is proposed.
"Compact car spaces these days are used by golf carts," Simmons told council members. "It's illegal to get a golf cart down Greeno Road, so is that the appropriate use of those? Something we probably need to look at our zoning ordinance to see where those would be appropriate, but for this, they are in accordance with the regulations."

Under Alabama law, a low-speed vehicle, such as a golf cart, cannot be driven on a highway or other major road with a speed limit of more than 25 miles an hour.
"They can't get there on a road that has a 45-mile-an-hour speed limit," Simmons said.
Councilman Jack Burrell asked whether compact car parking allowed developers to use less space for parking by putting in spaces that cannot be used for most vehicles being driven in Fairhope.
"You have three spaces for, I'm assuming regular sized vehicles, which in Fairhope means a Ford Expedition or a Suburban and if you go over to the right-hand side, I see some more compacts," Burrell said. "I see a lot of compact car parking, so are they actually meeting parking requirements because if they're just chopping up spaces to meet the requirement, it's going to be a problem there if people try to get out of the parking lot."
Simmons said city zoning regulations require that some spaces be designated for compact cars. He said city officials may need to study the zoning ordinance to see if parking rules should be changed.
"Big picture, the question we should be asking ourselves is, compact spaces," Simmons said. "When that was put in, I think everybody was looking at the electric cars and small cars and going that route. What compact spacing now has become is golf cart parking, low-speed vehicles. A spot down Greeno Road is probably not the most appropriate place for that usage."
Councilman Corey Martin cast the only vote against approving the site plan. Martin also said that golf carts cannot legally drive to the location, but also expressed concern about the effect on traffic of vehicles lined up for drive-through service at a business planned for the site on U.S. 98.
The council did approve the plan with a stipulation that the Alabama Department of Transportation also approve the plans for traffic using the site and that any improvements required by ALDOT be installed at the owner's expense before the building would receive a certificate of occupancy.