SPANISH FORT, Ala.—No action will be taken on Spanish Fort’s proposed Comprehensive Plan until at least the Planning Commission’s April 11 meeting.

The commission has already held a public hearing spanning both the January and February meetings and also welcomed residents to discuss the proposal during the Feb. 28 informal work session. All commission work sessions are open to the public.

At issue is consideration of a proposed blueprint intended to steer the city’s development over the next 15 years.

Commission Chairman Carl Nelson will be unable to attend the March 14 meeting, so while the matter might be discussed at that time, action will be delayed.

City Attorney David Conner said none of the suggested revisions to the document collected to date appear to qualify as “substantive” changes requiring new public hearings, but if that changes the appropriate advertisement and notification steps will be taken.

Resident Nancy Milford and former City Engineer Ronald Gibson were the only two members of the community who addressed the commission during the work session. Gibson focused primarily on the plan’s lack of a specific implementation strategy dictating development of a city center, the Causeway and the U.S. Highway 31 corridor.

Although Building Official Bruce Renkert agreed a master plan guiding the growth of those three districts is needed, he said such a plan should be its own separate document.

Gibson also revisited his criticism that the plan lacks traffic islands along the 31 corridor in lieu of proposed center-lane turn lanes he considers dangerous. Many of Spanish Fort’s existing side streets running perpendicular to 31, however, do not line up properly with 31.

Mayor Joe Bonner said the city can certainly consider purchasing property as it becomes available to “square up” some of the intersections affected, but when the Alabama Department of Transportation approached the city with the prospect – and funding – of the 31 widening project, “We didn’t have the luxury of time.”