Italian Village of Daphne PUD Returns to Council With Amended Narrative and 2.78-Acre Expansion

The Daphne City Council on Monday took up seven agenda items tied to the planned Italian Village of Daphne development at the northwest corner of County Road 64 and Alabama Highway 181.

The substantive changes are set out in the Amended PUD Narrative attached to the meeting packet — a document that would replace the development's currently approved standards. Among the proposed changes are a higher maximum density on the residential lot, an additional story of permitted building height, and the addition of 2.78 acres at the north end of the project.

The project is being developed by Montgomery-based The Trotman Company, the same firm behind Eastern Shore Centre and Premiere Cinema in Spanish Fort and the Shops at Point Clear in Fairhope. More detail on the firm is below.

Excerpt from the May 18, 2026 Daphne City Council agenda, page 1 — items 2.E, 2.F, and 2.G.

What the amended narrative proposes

Section 10.3 of the Amended PUD Narrative, titled "Requested Modifications - Residential Component (R-7(A))," lists the changes that would apply to the project's residential lot. If adopted, the amended narrative would:

• Raise the maximum density from 10 units per acre to 15 units per acre.
• Raise the maximum building height from 3 stories or 50 feet to 4 stories or 55 feet.
• Reduce the width on remaining project boundaries from 25 feet to 10 feet, only where those boundaries face interior PUD properties.
• Replace the prior 2-space-per-dwelling-unit parking standard with 1 space per single-bedroom unit and 2 spaces per 2- or 3-bedroom unit.

Minimum acreage (4 acres), building setbacks (50 feet), the rules for distance between buildings, lot coverage (30% impervious), and greenbelt width (25 feet along public roadways) would remain unchanged. The narrative footnotes the density figure with a note that "the proposed density governs over any other reference to density in the City of Daphne Code of Ordinances."

Section 10.3 — Requested Modifications, Residential Component (R-7(A)). Italian Village of Daphne PUD Narrative, May 18 meeting packet, page 29.

The packet's Land Use Summary Table describes the development as 34.55 total acres divided across 11 lots: nine commercial lots totaling 18.14 acres, one residential lot of 14.07 acres designated for apartments (Lot 10), and a 1.68-acre public right-of-way (Lot 11).

The total in the narrative table does not match the acreage in the ordinances. Ordinance 2026-13 describes the existing PUD as 27.39 acres, and Ordinance 2026-14 describes the new addition as 2.78 acres — totaling 30.17 acres. The packet does not reconcile the difference between that figure and the 34.55 acres listed in the narrative.

Section 3.1 — Land Use Summary Table. Italian Village of Daphne PUD Narrative, May 18 meeting packet, page 28.

A conceptual site plan in the narrative shows the apartment building footprint at the south end of the residential lot, organized around a central courtyard and pool, with commercial lots fronting the corner of Highway 181 and County Road 64.

Conceptual site plan, Italian Village of Daphne PUD Narrative, May 18 meeting packet, page 30.

The seven agenda items

Three items on Monday's agenda were public hearings, three were first-reading ordinances, and one was a resolution. All seven concern the same property:

• Item 2.E — Public hearing on the Italian Village of Daphne PUD Narrative Modification.
• Item 2.F — Public hearing on the pre-zoning amendment requested by Jerry Volovecky and Louise Volovecky, Sr. Limited Partnership.
• Item 2.G — Public hearing on an annexation petition filed by the Jerry Volovecky and Louise Volovecky, Sr. Family Limited Partnership.
• Item 11.A — Resolution 2026-30 would ratify and confirm the earlier Ordinance 2026-07 and acknowledge Joseph A. Allegri Jr Properties I, LLC as an additional property owner whose consent was missing from the original prezoning application.
• Item 13.B — Ordinance 2026-13 (first reading) would amend the Italian Village of Daphne PUD Narrative and adopt the modifications above.
• Item 13.C — Ordinance 2026-14 (first reading) would pre-zone the additional 2.78 acres at the north end of the project.
• Item 13.D — Ordinance 2026-15 (first reading) would annex those same 2.78 acres into the city.

The earlier prezoning

The Italian Village of Daphne PUD was originally pre-zoned by the council on April 6, 2026 under Ordinance 2026-07, according to Resolution 2026-30 in the meeting packet. That ordinance covers a 27.39-acre tract — described in the packet as 1,193,213 square feet — at Lot 1-B of the Replat of Volovecky Split Subdivision, west of State Highway 181 and north of County Road 64.

Resolution 2026-30, May 18 meeting packet, page 89.

The new 2.78 acres covered by Ordinance 2026-14 are currently zoned RA, Rural Agricultural, in Baldwin County District 15 Planning District. The pre-zoning would assign the city's PUD designation; it takes effect only when the property is annexed.

Ordinance 2026-14, May 18 meeting packet, page 117.

Where the project stands procedurally

The Volovecky Family Limited Partnership filed the annexation petition with the city clerk on February 26, 2026, according to Ordinance 2026-15.

The Daphne Planning Commission considered the package at its regular meeting on March 26, 2026 and voted to send a favorable recommendation to the City Council, subject to "the additional of 2.78 acres to the north of the original project boundary and updating the PUD Narrative to compensate for changes to the boundary," per Ordinance 2026-13.

Monday's votes on the three ordinances were first readings only. Daphne ordinances require a second reading and council vote at a later meeting before they take effect. The public hearings were open to comment from residents. Ordinance 2026-14 carries an additional condition: if the property is not annexed within 180 days of the start of annexation proceedings, the prezoning expires.

The project has come up before. At the May 4 council meeting, a resident from Worchester Drive offered public comment on the Italian Village development during public participation, according to the meeting record bundled in this packet.

About the developer

The Italian Village of Daphne is being developed by The Trotman Company Inc., a Montgomery, Alabama-based firm that describes itself on its website as "a full-service retail development firm" and reports having developed and leased "over 4.1 million square feet of retail space."

Several of the firm's past projects are familiar places along the Eastern Shore. Its portfolio credits the company with:

• Eastern Shore Centre — Spanish Fort, 2004.
• Eastern Shore Plaza — Spanish Fort, 2004.
• Premiere Cinema — Spanish Fort, 2008.
• Baldwin Square Shopping Center — Fairhope, 2002.
• The Shops at Point Clear — Fairhope, 2022.

Across more than three decades, the company's portfolio page lists over 40 retail developments completed between 1992 and 2024, primarily in Alabama with additional projects in Georgia, Mississippi and Florida.

News coverage of the Italian Village proposal — including reporting from Gulf Coast Media, WKRG, and Fox 10 — has identified Charles Trotman Sr. as the project's representative. Those outlets have reported that the development is anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market, that the residential lot is planned for approximately 200 apartments, and that the project is designed around an Italian-themed architectural style. Those specific details are not reproduced in the meeting packet posted by the city; readers can verify them in the linked coverage.

The City Council met at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 18, 2026, at City Hall, 1705 Main Street.