Why in the world, wonders Dorothy Williams, would Alabama's fastest-growing county need any more "large developments?"
"What are we trying to do?" Williams asked the Daphne City Council on Monday. "Squeeze Birmingham into Daphne?"
Similar challenges are being heard elsewhere in Baldwin County's Eastern Shore and south end as concern rises from the grass-roots about seemingly limitless construction of new housing tracts and commercial strips.
In Gulf Shores, locals recently filled City Hall to challenge development of a 240-unit apartment complex. The project's fate awaits a decision of the city's Planning Commission.
In Fairhope, the state's No. 1 growth city since the 2010 Census, an apartment complex conflict two years ago arguably led voters to oust the four-term mayor.
In Daphne, Williams and others are calling on the city to reject a resident development that could spill into the '50s-era Olde Towne Daphne neighborhood.
"We reject irresponsible growth. We accept growth that is well planned," said Faye Earnest, another of the critics to speak up Monday.
Political issue
The upset is trickling into local political races ahead of the Nov. 6 general election.
"The growth is happening," said Joe Davis, a Daphne councilman and Republican hopeful for the County Commission. "We need to address that."
It's Democrats, however, who're pouncing hard. They believe that the issue gives them an opening in highly conservative and heavily red Baldwin.
The Democratic narrative is pretty simple, all in all: Baldwin County has been caught with its pants down.
"We're not prepared for it at all," said Amber Smith, a Daphne resident running against Davis for the County Commission seat.
Said Jason Fisher, a Democratic hopeful for a state Senate seat: "This lack of communication and planning is unacceptable."
He added, "We are developing land and building faster than our infrastructure can handle. Our infrastructure resources must match any expansion plans and, to this point in the process, they have haven't. It's only fair for developers to pay their fair share so that residents aren't saddled with these burdens."
Fisher is running against Republican County Commissioner Chris Elliott in a contest to replace state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose.
Elliott has been the head of the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization for the past two years. The MPO is considered the main authority in bringing together city officials and specialists in three fast-growing cities - Daphne, Fairhope and Spanish Fort.
He said the group has done a good job analyzing building permits and planning documents to determine "a year or two or three in advance" where to get ahead of new projects.
Elliott said he's privately pushed for developers to support local schools when they look to add more houses and subdivisions. That's a better course, he said, that adding a golf course or a swimming pool amenity.
"If we work with our development community, and if we can focus on schools as infrastructure, we will be a lot better off as a community," Elliott said.
But Elliot, for the most part, said that as long as developers adhere to local zoning and planning regulations, he supports their ability to build on their own property.
Fisher said he supports additional measures, such as better funding the Alabama Department of Environmental Management "so they can effectively help identify and respond to environmental issues that are causes, in part, by this rapid growth."
As an example, he cited repeated incidences of untreated sewage dumped into Mobile Bay or other watersheds during heavy rains.
Elliott, in response, said those proposals are costly. "To better fund ADEM, where do you get that funding?" he said. "What tax will you raise?"
He also said he's concerned about the extent of growth management, saying it could harm private property rights.
"In order to manage growth, you need to clamp down regulations and you have to curtail private property rights on what people can or cannot do on their private property," said Elliott. "I'm a private property rights guy. If they are consistent with subdivision regulations and passed by an elected body, you ought to be able to do with what you want to do with your own property."
Smith, the Democrat running for a county commission seat, said she believes it's time for the county to look outside itself and hire a firm to handle a planning effort.
"Have a person with no special interest in Baldwin County to give you a good idea of what's going on," said Smith, adding that she believes the county commission should organize communication efforts.
"Baldwin County is unique," she added. "There are so many different municipalities and we need to be on the same page on the growth as a whole."
Elliott said the growth concerns in the coastal communities of Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Foley are far different from the Eastern Shore. He said the traffic issues in the southern portions of the county involve different issues, and more tourists, than along the Eastern Shore.
He predicted that the three coastal cities will, after the 2020 Census, form their own metropolitan planning organization to better communicate and coordinate plans addressing growth. Right now, coastal Alabama's planning is through a regional planning organization that is headquartered in Milton, Florida.
'Want-to' plan
Jordan Yin, an assistant professor in the Department of Community and Regional Planning at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, said Alabama is one of a handful of states that does not require cities or counties to develop any kind of planning mechanism.
He said that Alabama is unlike Michigan, which requires all cities - including tiny towns of fewer than 1,000 people - to develop some kind of planning document.
Yin said Alabama is often referred to as a "want-to" state when it comes to planning. But he acknowledges that a lot of cities, including Gulf Shores, have done an adequate job of creating long-term planning documents.
"Places with a big-picture view can help people coordinate better," said Yin, author of the 2012 book, "Urban Planning for Dummies."
"If you open up 2,000 units of multi-family housing and your jurisdiction permits it and half-mile up the road, another 2,000 units of multi-family is opened up and no one is talking to each other, you'll have a lot of unintended consequences," said Yin, who is a believer that MPO's serve as vital communication tool for planning within fast-growth areas.
"It's a lot easier to build houses than to build roads, sewers and other kinds of infrastructure," said Yin. "Building the infrastructure is much harder to do and can be much more of a struggle for a community especially for those that are pro-growth."
In Daphne, the concern is on whether the proposed new townhouse and housing development called Jacob's Well will hurt already crowed roads in Olde Towne Daphne.
Developer Craig Dyas has tried to refine this project proposal to meet the concerns of residents, but has found little assurance from residents who fear about a flood of new traffic concerns.
"I understand that growth is a mixed blessing," said Sandy Robinson, a resident in Olde Town Daphne who gathered more than 550 signatures opposing the project. "People want to move here but ... we go to church, schools and the restaurants. You can kill a good thing by having too much traffic."