ORANGE BEACH – After facing challenges in recent years, including COVID, Hurricane Sally and a hailstorm, Orange Beach is moving ahead with major projects in the upcoming year, Mayor Tony Kennon said Tuesday, Feb. 22.

At a city Town Hall meeting in Orange Beach’s new Performing Arts Center, Kennon said the community has overcome many obstacles in the recent past.

“But we bounced back and after every challenger, that’s our goal, it’s an opportunity to be better and to be better for it,” he said.

The community is still facing challenges, such as a shortage of workers as the resort city prepares for the upcoming summer tourist season. Kennon said many businesses had difficulty finding employees in 2021.

“It was a tough summer,” Kennon said. “Almost every business in town was short-staffed. I hope that everybody here understands that, and I’ve asked that everybody be very patient with our businesses as they’re doing the best they can with what they can get, who they can get.

Kennon said the city will start or continue major projects in the upcoming months.

Work in construction includes a new fire station at a cost of $4.5 million, city beach infrastructure at $4 million, a turnout lane at Orange Beach High School at $50,000 and a shooting range at $500,000.

Upcoming projects include pier repairs at Waterfront Park at a cost of about $700,000, a wildlife center at $300,000, the East Canal Road multimodal path at $2 million, West Canal multimodal path at $600,000 and hail damage repairs to city facilities at a cost of more than $2.6 million.

Future projects include rebuilding Fire Station No. 1 and administrative offices at $12 million, a field house and athletic training facility at $12 million and a new Justice Center at $3 million.

One upcoming project is to develop an 8.7-acre parcel on the beach in a partnership with the owners of the Florabama.

“It’s going to be a nice restaurant, bar, music venue. We bought 400 feet. They bought 400 feet and we have cross use agreements where we’re going to share the parking and we’re going to share the beach,” Kennon said. “So, for half the money, we have 800 feet of beachfront now for folks to use, public beachfront.”

The parcel was once slated for development with two condominium towers at heights to 37 and 36 stories. The site had been approved for 276 units. The city purchased 4.3 acres with 400 feet of beachfront.

Kennon said Orange Beach is also working to improve city facilities. Buildings such as City Hall, Medical Arts, Finance Department and Community Development will be upgraded with new designs reflecting the coastal appearance. “We’re getting rid of the brown and the brown roofs and the red roofs,” Kennon said. “I have no idea how we got that.”

Orange Beach has boomed since it incorporated in 1984, Kennon said. The population in the 1990 Census was 2,253. In 2020, that number was 8,095, a 48% increase in the last decade.

Kennon said the Census count of permanent residents does not reflect the numbers of visitors. In June and July, about 120,000 people are in Orange Beach.

“In the peak summer system, we’re the fifth largest city in the state,” Kennon said.

He said the city in summer is the size of Tuscaloosa and faces similar traffic problems.

“We move Iron Bowl traffic every day in the summer,” Kennon said. “I hate to hear those guys whine about Iron Bowl Saturdays. When it rains, we move it twice a day sometimes. We are a very small town with a very big-city demand.”

Kennon said city officials are working to control the effects of growth. He said that while the city cannot change zoning designations already in place, officials will not approve “upzoning,” to allow uses that would increase population density to more than allowed in the zoning designation.

“We have committed that anybody that has a right to build,” Kennon said. “We will support that right and facilitate that right. We will not change the zoning to increase their ability to increase density or higher use, but we cannot philosophically and legally reduce zoning because that’s a taking. You’ll get sued and you’ll lose millions of dollars. So, we are stuck with the zoning we have and the people who will build on those properties. It is coming. Canal Road in five years will be built out from one end to the other.”

As the city has grown, officials have controlled spending. Kennon said that in the last four years, revenue has increased from less than $50 million in 2018 to about $70 million in 2021. At the same time, municipal spending has been about $35 million each year, according to city reports.

“How many government agencies can have that kind of increase in revenue and hold spending at the same level? These guys came in under budget this year in a year that we had the greatest amount of revenue that we’ve ever had,” Kennon said. “To me, that boggles my mind.”

He said the city now has a $40 million operating budget with $36 million in reserves and $25 million in bond proceeds.

He said the city will continue to be a popular destination on the Gulf Coast.

“We have really blossomed as a community,” he said. “We are the jewel of the Gulf Coast.”