It's just two 1.37-acre parcels being swapped to create a new entry into the expanding terminal at Gulf Shores International Airport.

But it's execution involves a few hoops to jump through created by state laws addressing vacation of rights-of-way by local Alabama governments.

It's going to take three resolutions by Gulf Shores City Council, 28 days of advertising it and public hearings to make it happen, but the end result will be the new airport entrance. Along the way, the city will relinquish the long unused right-of-way of West Gulf Avenue near Gulf Shores First Baptist Church — essentially in the church's parking lot — to help acquire the right of way for the new entrance.

Planning Director and Assistant City Administrator Lee Jones says the new entrance will serve several purposes for the growing aviation park. Not the least of which is an entrance closer to the new Alabama Department of Transportation bridge and roadway weeks from completion east of the airport.

"There really are two primary reasons for the additional entrance," Jones said. "The first is distribution of traffic. As vehicular traffic to the airport terminal increases, having an additional entrance will provide options for motorists to get in and out of the aviation park."

As routes to and from Gulf Shores continue to expand, officials expect the current entrance could be overwhelmed.

"This will help alleviate congestion at a singular entrance/exit," Jones said. "The second reason is for health/safety. We always want multiple entrances and exits for heavily trafficked areas for emergency response. If there is an obstruction at one entrance, there should be another accessible route in case of emergency.

"A secondary reason is to accommodate traffic using the new ALDOT Bridge Road (161) coming from the north."

The new entrance is supported and made possible now by two other larger projects in the area south and east of the airport. Gulf Shores recently completed its connection from Alabama Highway 59 to the new roadway and bridge, North Waterway Boulevard East, and the state is saying the new bridge, which will be two lanes of southbound-only traffic, will be up and running by Memorial Day weekend.

Right now, that entrance is a dirt path from North Waterway Boulevard East to Commerce Drive near the entrance to the state's Mariculture Center. Commerce Drive is a loop in the aviation park with a few businesses along its way, including where the new terminal expansion is underway.

"We think this is a really important connection," Jones said. "We think this serves a much better way for the city to provide this connection to the airport than the existing West Gulf Avenue does, and we do recommend the approval of these three resolutions."

First, the city will vacate the right-of-way of West Gulf Avenue to Gulf Shores Baptist Church where it will be used for expansion and more parking for the growing congregation there.

"(They) would like to expand their facilities as well as their parking," Jones said. "If you've been by on any Sunday morning and parking there, they are in need of additional parking, so they would like to expand their parking lot into that right-of-way."

State law requires a "vacation fee" by local governments that cede rights of way to adjacent property owners, and the second resolution will cover that part of the transaction.

A company called Equity Builders owns the property where the new entrance right-of-way would go. One of the principals in Equity Builders, Randy McKinney, is a long-time member of First Baptist, and the company and McKinney have agreed to donate the property to the church with some help from the state.

Acceptance by the church of the donation of 1.37 acres near the airport will serve as the state-required "vacation fee" the city will accept to vacate the right-of-way for West Gulf Avenue to the church for the entrance right of way.

"The third resolution is authorizing the mayor and city clerk to execute a quictclaim deed to convey that 1.37 acres of right of way," Jones said. "Council agrees to vacate the right-of-way, they establish for that vacation, and they also authorize the mayor to actually quitclaim that property to the adjacent property owner."

The new terminal expansion is expected to be completed by summer of 2027.

Asphalt Services, the contractor for North Waterway Boulevard East, will build the entrance road, and its completion is expected by the end of this summer.