GULF SHORES, Ala. — A state plan that took shape in earnest after back-to-back hurricanes smashed the Gulf State Park Resort Hotel and Convention Center in 2004-05 won’t result in a proposed $100 million, 350-room hotel and convention center. At least, it won’t happen unless the law is changed.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that Gov. Bob Riley’s plan to allow a private company to develop and manage the hotel and convention center — to be built on pristine beachfront property on what is generally regarded as the crown jewel of the state’s park system — violates the State Parks Concession Act. The Act puts a 12-year limit on private companies that contract to operate concessions in Alabama state parks.

The original proposal by the Riley Administration was to give Auburn University a 99-year lease on the beachfront property.

Auburn would run the new hotel and convention center, use it for training students in hotel management and related fields, and the facilities would be sub-leased to the West Paces Hotel Group out of Atlanta.

Years of political struggle have ensued between those supporting the state plan and those who have opposed it. The struggle has often been couched, rightly or wrongly, in terms of “David versus Goliath” and “the little guy against big government.”

Those supporting the Riley plan have included local chambers of commerce, local and state tourist officials and some local officeholders.

A public forum held in June 2005 at the Erie Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores drew approximately 300 people, the majority of whom favored the state’s plan.

New businesses, new jobs, the return of conventioneers to the Alabama Gulf Coast, and a projected $65 million annually in economic impact to the area were reasons cited for favoring the Riley plan.

But the proposal also drew fire from Save Our Alabama Parks (SOAP), a local grassroots group that said the state plan raised legal questions; that a $300 a night hotel room would be cost prohibitive for most Alabama families. They noted the West Paces Group was made up of “ex-Ritz Carlton executives.”

Besides the opposition of SOAP and former State Conservation Commissioner Charley Grimsley, the Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach challenged the state proposal, as did the Alabama State Employees Association and Alabama Education Association.

Then Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone also filed a lawsuit in 2005 over the Riley proposal.

As late as last year, a SOAP member addressed the Baldwin County Commission about what she called a “powerful contingency of government officials, politicians, private business owners and developers” she alleged had formulated a plan to build a highway through protected wetlands in Gulf State Park.

Grimsley calls Gulf State Park the “most treasured piece of public land in Alabama.

“Sadly, when Bob Riley first became governor of Alabama, he immediately embarked upon an elaborate plan to take a prime portion of the beach away from the people to build a four-star Ritz-Carlton-style hotel, complete with a luxurious spa fit for a king,” Grimsley said this week.

“Turning the hotel over to a wealthy private corporation that would make millions catering to wealthy guests would be the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.”

According to Grimsley, the Supreme Court’s 31-page decision on Friday was based not only on the State Parks Concession Act limit of 12 years, but Riley’s “plan to hand pick the company that would build and run the hotel” without competitive bidding.

Also, a concessionaire’s rates and charges must be reasonable, something Grimsley said wouldn’t be possible for most Alabamians in a “Ritz Carlton-style hotel.”

The governor’s next move could be to ask the Legislature to change the Concession Act, Grimsley said.

“It’s disappointing,” said Todd Stacy, the governor’s press secretary, regarding the Supreme Court decision. “Unless we get the law changed, we’ll continue to miss out.”

His reference is to the millions of dollars in convention business he said Alabama is losing to Florida.

“The park is an asset and should be allowed to fulfill its promise and generate revenues for that area and the state,” Stacy said.

With the current revenue situation in the state, Stacy said the loss of revenues at Gulf State Park will only make the financial situation tougher for the rest of Alabama’s state parks.

Apart from the State Park Concession Act, Stacy said the Supreme Court agreed with the Riley Administration on every point.