At a recent Orange Beach town hall meeting, viewers and guests were able to reflect on the 40th anniversary of the city with a presentation that highlighted some of the city's improvements on infrastructure, design and quality of life, which brought up one strong message to attendees: proper golf cart protocol within the city.

Councilman Jeff Boyd encouraged the audience to tell anyone they know in Orange Beach that if they are on "a federally paid-for path that that's a pedestrian path and that golf carts have to give way all the time."

He said the order of right of way goes pedestrian first, bike second and golf carts third.

"They've got to move out of the way for someone coming," Boyd said.

He also reminded the crowd that golf carts are only permitted on roads that are 25 miles per hour or less. Golf carts seen on "Marina Road and other roads like it" are not allowed and can risk the safety of the golf cart driver as well as the drivers of the cars on roads with 35-55 mph speed limits.

Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon addressed the growing concern with underage individuals driving golf carts throughout the city.

"I think we have about 3,000 golf carts registered, and I think 2,000 of them are driven by 12-year-olds," Kennon said. "We have a problem."

He said the city plans to address this problem by having golf cart re-inspections beginning in late October with the dates and locations to be announced soon.

MARGARITAVILLE DETAILS
The town hall also covered progress and projects from the past, present and future by highlighting financial, infrastructure and property improvements over the past 11 years and announcing plans for what's coming next in Orange Beach.

The first big topic was for the upcoming Margaritaville Resort, which will be located on the old Bama Bayou property across from The Wharf. The resort will contain a Village, Amenity and Waterfront district with construction of the latter two expected to be done in 2027. Plans currently state that construction on the Village district will start after the others' completion.

The Waterfront district will be open to resort guests as well as the local population and will be accessible by boat or by car. The Amenity district will have day passes that can be bought for non-guests of the resort. The passes will be subject to resort capacity, meaning that if the resort is fully booked, amenity day passes will be unavailable for purchase.

OTHER PROJECTS – CANAL ROAD, VETERANS MEMORIAL, EDUCATION
Other projects and improvements for the City of Orange Beach include shared use trails and sidewalks added to areas along Canal Road, continued rebranding of city buildings to match a more "coastal" theme and construction of a Veterans Memorial that will be located in front of the Orange Beach Municipal Complex.

"And the American flag has to be one inch taller than the one at the EMC," Kennon said, concerning the flags that are to be at the Veterans Memorial. "It's got to be the biggest."

Kennon also presented educational successes from Orange Beach High School receiving an A on their state report card and earning COGNIA accreditation, a respected mark of quality for educational institutions, in less than two years of the city being in its own district. He also talked about how beneficial the Expect Excellence program has been for students and teachers.

"It is much, much easier on our teachers," Kennon said. "It's a much more calm teaching environment because these kids have been taught how they should act and what's expected of them from a very early age."

He also mentioned how the program has helped young students "find their passions" while still remaining academically driven.