The City of Gulf Shores Planning Commission held their most recent meeting on March 28.

The meeting featured two main proposals: an approval to allow vacation rentals at Waterway Villas and a proposal to amend the zoning ordinance to make changes to the neighborhood Business Zoning District Regulations.

Per the Waterway Villas site plan provided at the meeting, the existing property is located at 210 E. 22nd Ave. and includes two one-bedroom units and two two-bedroom units.

The proposal details a future land use plan, outlining the intended future for Waterway Village.

"The Land Use Plan indicates Waterway Village is envisioned to become a dense, compact, walkable, mixed use, neighborhood downtown district that encourages an active working waterfront with a network of waterfront and neighborhood greenways and open spaces," reads the official Waterway Villas site plan. "Waterway Village is envisioned to become a secondary tourist destination to the beachfront, which will geographically diversify the economy of Gulf Shores."

The site plan proposes the following improvements, in addition to converting the development from long-term to short-term rentals:

• A complete renovation of the interior and exterior of the units
• New landscaping
• Parking lot renovation
• New site lighting

The second discussion topic details a request to modify the neighborhood business zoning district regulations.

"Staff does propose to modify the hours of operation, add three new "Right" uses and change restaurant uses from CUP to by "Right," per the zoning text amendment. "These changes support the purpose of the district to provide limited retail and service facilities convenient to residential neighborhoods."

The proposed text amendments include modification to the following sections:

• Change the operating hours for Business Uses to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (currently 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
• To allow governmental uses; medical clinics and rental of bicycles, scooters, canoes, kayaks, etc.
• Permitted uses to change standard and walkup restaurant Uses from "CUP" to by "Right."

The proposed text amendments recommend the following sections be deleted:

• Section 8-2.A.3. This section limits incidental accessory retail uses to only 10% of the GFA of the principal use. Due to the overall GFA restriction of 5,000 square feet, staff does not believe this regulation is necessary.
• Section 8-2.A.6. This deletion will correct a discrepancy in the Zoning Ordinance. This section identifies the docking of less than 10 boats as a "marina use" that may only be permitted by CUP. The Zoning Ordinance specifically states that the docking of less than 10 boats is not a marina use, and Table 8-2A: BN District Permitted Uses allows accessory boat docking by Right.
• Remove the Multiple-family and Townhouse Area and Dimensional Standards from Table 8-2B: BN District Area and Dimensional Requirements. These regulations have been replaced by the new Multiple-family and Townhouse Regulations.
• Section 8-2.B.2. This section requires minimum lot widths for multiple family uses based on the number of proposed dwelling units. This regulation has been replaced by the new Multiple-family Regulation.

Both requests will be officially presented to the Gulf Shores City Council at a future date.