The City of Gulf Shores has amended an ordinance that prohibits the use of staining materials for building projects within city limits to allow commercial sites to use materials such as red sand clay in commercial building projects.

Red sand clay was prohibited to help with drainage problems and decrease the chance of staining materials like it from entering the waterway. The amendment, which was approved at the Aug. 26 city council meeting, allows for commercial building sites to use any material, including red sand clay, within the footprint of the building, sidewalks, parking areas or driveways/streets.

"We just felt like having the red sand clay availability will decrease costs," Brandan Franklin, chief building official with the City of Gulf Shores, said at the Aug. 19 work session meeting. "Just to make it fair to everyone."

This is only for commercial property sites and not for sites considered for residential use. This amendment does not apply to land located south of Hwy. 180, where only non-staining materials can be used in those areas.

"Our white sand beaches are our signature," Mayor Robert Craft said at the work session, "and to allow anything south of Fort Morgan Road that could bleed into that is not something we can allow to happen."

Larry Freeman, president of Bon Secour River Protective Association, was against the change.

He was concerned about what would come after this amendment, as he said he felt that eventually the ruling would pass on to include residential sites, which often are surrounded by landscaping and sod/grass rather than parking lots or sidewalks.

"Keep (the staining materials) under encapsulated structures, and you'll be just fine," Freeman said.

Freeman said he and Dennis Hatfield, with the Little Lagoon Preservation Society, had been working on the ordinance since 2006, and it was passed in 2021. Franklin told Freeman he had discussed the amendment with Hatfield and that "he was in full support."

Freeman held his position as being against the amendment even after it was passed. He pointed out that the Little Lagoon area is south of Fort Morgan Road and that wouldn't be impacted by the amendment.

"I'm protective of the Bon Secour River Watershed, and you can't blame me for being that," Freeman said. "We don't need red clay sands in our area just like Dennis Hatfield doesn't need them below Hwy. 180."

At the Aug. 26 council meeting, Councilman Philip Harris made a comment before the amendment was voted on reminding everyone that the ordinance already permits staining materials to be used under parking lots and sidewalks on commercial sites.

"The building itself is all that we're changing," Harris said.

He said the residential sites would likely have more problems with draining if sand clay mixtures were used. The amendment's summary said that commercial sites were designed to include draining/retention ponds around the building footprint, which helps with drainage.

"I think we've been good stewards of our environment," Harris said, "and with this being internal to the lot and it already being provided for and allowed outside of the building, there's a lot of benefit to the commercial industry when it comes to structural designs."