Independent local reporting from the Eastern Shore
Four unincorporated parcels at the southeast corner of County Road 13 and Mosley Road are the subject of case ZC 26.06, a conditional annexation request seeking R-1 low-density single-family zoning. The Fairhope Planning Commission opens a public hearing on the matter Monday, July 6, 2026.
Murphy Oil USA, filing for property owner Corte Cave/Mitchell 1, LLC, wants to build a 2,824-square-foot automobile service station on the northwest corner of State Highways 181 and 104. City planning staff recommend approval, with conditions, when case SR 26.04 comes before the Fairhope Planning Commission on Monday, July 6.
An ordinance on the June 29 agenda would extend Fairhope's pause on higher-density residential and subdivision applications — in place since February 2025 — by one month, through Aug. 16. That is a shorter step than the city's earlier extensions, even though the zoning overhaul behind the pause isn't expected to take effect until 2027.
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the City Council approve a site plan for a Foosackly's chicken-finger restaurant and a Just Chillin' ice cream shop on Lot 4 of the Encounter development at Highway 181. The plan revives an approval that had lapsed since 2025.
Lieb Engineering wants to bond — rather than build — the turn lanes, sidewalks, stormwater pond and landscape buffer required at the Hwy 104/181 gas-station site, deferring the work until a future tenant breaks ground. Planning staff recommended denying the subdivision and all three subdivision waivers.
The May 11 vote authorizes Mayor Sherry Sullivan to apply to the FHWA Safe Streets and Roads for All program. If awarded, the funding would target three Fairhope Avenue intersections — Ingleside, South Mobile Street, and Bishop — plus downtown pedestrian improvements. The city's 20 percent local match would be $1.8 million.
A request to rezone two adjacent lots on Northrop Avenue from low-density multi-family residential to a business and professional district was on the Fairhope Planning Commission's June 1 agenda for a public hearing. The applicant is Thompson Engineering, on behalf of Gulf Health Hospitals.
The Fairhope Planning Commission is scheduled June 1 to consider seven separate requests from Verizon Wireless to install new small-cell wireless towers in downtown rights-of-way and at specific addresses across the city. The applications are listed as items 3.F through 3.L on the meeting agenda.
