ORANGE BEACH, AL - Several topics were covered during the June 21 state of the city presentation. Here are some highlights:

CITY SIDEWALKS

Orange Beach wants to build a new sidewalk from Doc’s Seafood Shack to The Wharf on Canal Road, but that project is a couple of years off, Kennon said.

Projects the city is ready to proceed with are a new sidewalk from Catman Trailhead on Alabama 161 to the Publix shopping center, West Oak Ridge from Alabama 161 to the Sportsplex and a Lauder Lane sidewalk.

BEACH ROAD PROJECT

Originally the state’s plan was to put in medians and designated left turn intersections at about 13 locations along Perdido Beach Boulevard from the state line to the city’s western limits.

Kennon said city officials plan to ask the state to do just one phase of the three – the center portion between Cotton Bayou Beach Access and Walmart – and study its affect.

“We’ve asked at this point to just do phase one, evaluate it, put phase two and three on the back burner,” he said. “In reality I’d rather have that money to go somewhere on Canal Road or somewhere else.

“It was a $20 million project to do the entire city from city limit to city limit. The first phase is only about $5 million. I’d love that $15 million to go toward something that will help us right now.”

CROSS ISLAND CONNECTOR

It’s a small victory, Kennon admits, but state officials are starting to acknowledge the need for another north-south connection to beach road.

“For the first time in the eight years I’ve been mayor the governor and the Department of Conservation director have approached me in the last month and said we will at the right time address the cross-island parkway in a positive fashion,” he said. “So I feel good that they understand. It’s the first time ever they have brought it up that we have a positive impression we want to look at.”

The city is making a move let the state know it has a willing partner when discussions begin in earnest on a connector with the Powerline Road purchase, Kennon said.