SPANISH FORT — A 144-acre parcel of waterfront property on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta will soon become public property under plans being prepared in Spanish Fort.
The Spanish Fort City Council is scheduled to vote Monday, April 18, to buy the property known as Cypress Point at a price of more than $8.41 million. The city received a grant of $8.5 million through the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, known as GOMESA, program.
Mayor Mike McMillan said at a city council work session Monday, April 4, that city officials are working on plans to make the site a waterfront park and recreation area for Spanish Fort residents and visitors.
"This certainly is a piece that is big," McMillan said. "I think we all agree this is just a piece of putting together the acquisition of that property that will allow us to establish some family friendly facilities within our city that will have waterfront accessibility with picnic areas and all those things that we all would like to see go forward."
The city will buy the property from BPM Capital LLC. McMillan said company representatives have been working with city officials on the project.

"They saw the benefit to the community in preserving and conserving this property for the community and they've been working with us to do that, and we appreciate that," McMillan said.
He said the acquisition will be a major step forward for the project.
"While we haven't put it completely to bed, I feel really good about where we are on this project," McMillan said. "This is going to be an opportunity for our citizens and it's certainly a red-letter day in our city to acquire 144 acres on the waterfront to preserve for our citizens for waterfront activities, picnic activities, walking trails, all of the things that come along with this."
The property is on Bay Minette Creek on both sides of Alabama 225. The site had previously been approved for multi-family zoning but plans for development were cancelled after the economic downturn around 2008, city officials said in previous interviews.
McMillan said city officials will also meet with residents to discuss plans for the site.
"We need to hear from everybody on this, what they'd like to see, what their vision of this property is," McMillan said. "We all look at it every day and one of the prettiest sights you'll ever see is driving across that bridge at sunset and looking across there and seeing the skyline of Mobile and the delta. You can't put a price tag on that."
The council also voted April 4 to approve a survey of the property by Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood at a total price of $26,000.
The GOMESA program, which provided the money for the project is a federal project that distributes funds from offshore oil and gas production to states that allow drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2021, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced 17 projects in Baldwin and Mobile counties that would receive a total of $41 million in GOMESA funds. The Spanish Fort project was the largest single grant in the 2021 program.