ORANGE BEACH — The decision to deannex, or transfer city properties to the county, Orange Beach properties north of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) will again be decided at a later date as the city plans to update their "comprehensive plan to study future growth."

The decision to table the corporate limits deannexation came after the proposal sparked two lawsuits from property owners, one being the Prosper apartments where 49 Orange Beach City School (OBCS) students currently live.

Coastal Cottages, another site north of the ICW owned by Coastal Land Properties LLC, had an anonymous representative quoted in a previous Gulf Coast Media article saying school-aged children would be "forced into Foley or other county (school) systems."

As previously reported by GCM, the Coastal Cottages property is a six-minute drive from Orange Beach Middle/High School and a 12-minute drive from Orange Beach Elementary. It is about a 14-minute drive from Foley High, an 18-minute drive from Foley Middle and a 19-minute drive from Foley Elementary.

In an email acquired by GCM to Baldwin County Schools Superintendent Eddie Tyler from Craig Johnson, project engineer for the Coastal Cottages site, Johnson informed Tyler of the decision to deannex properties.

"The Prosper Apartment complex accounts for the majority of low grades and disciplinary problems in the city school system," Johnson said in the email, "and they are ready to deannex property to avoid this issue, along with future developments proposing residential uses."

It was clarified at the Feb. 18 city council meeting that Prosper apartments were no longer going to be included in the deannexation, and Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon told GCM after the meeting that "no final decisions" had been made before the lawsuits were filed other than "no kids will be kicked out of Orange Beach City Schools."

After approval from each council member, except Jeff Boyd who abstained from the vote, the proposed corporate limits deannexation was tabled until further review at the March 11 council meeting, where the item was on the agenda to be voted on.

Orange Beach City Administrator Ford Handley said the city is likely to make an announcement at the March 18 council meeting concerning the table and what this will mean for affected properties.

"The city is looking to study future growth by updating their comprehensive plan," Handley said. "There's always a fine balance of growth and maintaining the high level of services that we currently provide, and so that is the focus for the mayor and council."

He mentioned that different utility and service capacities are set to be evaluated such as fire, police, water, sewer, traffic, storm water management and school capacity.

Handley said the low student-teacher ratio is "really important for us to maintain" in OBCS. He also said the schools get 95% of their funding from the city and not much is received in state funding.

The deannexation resolution document reads that there is "roughly 3.9 square miles of corporate limits" north of the ICW, most of which is "not yet developed."

The document continues stating how the current infrastructure in the city "could not withstand the additional demand" these properties would bring if they were developed into residential sites.

Several properties, however, are currently in the process of starting development as rezonings and site plans have been reviewed and approved in city council and city's planning commission.

A rezoning from General Business to Planned Unit Development was approved for the Coastal Cottages property at the March 11 council meeting. According to the zoning document, this approval subdivided the 42 acres of undeveloped property into two lots, one for conservation and one for a residential area set to have 136 two-story townhomes.

As previously reported by GCM, Coastal Cottages project engineer Johnson said the subdivision will "provide housing for small families who want to live in the much sought after Orange Beach community."

Kennon was quoted in a previous GCM article saying there is a "possibility to develop 1,700 homes" on all the city property north of the ICW, some of which are located more than 25 minutes away from the city's schools and main infrastructure.

"There's just not a possibility to service that in a reasonable way for the city," Kennon was previously reported saying.

He was also attributed saying the city has been evaluating the parcels of land and the city infrastructure to manage "growth with what's fair and what's sustainable." He said all city services and infrastructure would have to expand to accommodate to the growth.