Alabama’s beach cities are poised to vote on new penalties prohibiting people from tossing or dropping objects from balconies.
The Gulf Shores and Orange Beach city councils will vote in the coming weeks on a new ordinance that assesses fines against people who toss an object off “an elevated structure.”
“We fully support our cities in their efforts to protect the safety of our visitors and residents, and these ordinances are being put in place for the safety and protection of everyone and are meant to keep Gulf Shores and Orange Beach the family-friendly destination it has always been,” said Beth Gendler, president and CEO with Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism.
The Gulf Shores City Council will vote on its proposed ordinance on Monday, at which time it will become immediately effective. Orange Beach’s officials will vote on its ordinance April 4.
The new changes are expected to be effective during the final weeks of coastal Alabama’s spring break season, which typically ends in late April.
The new proposals are not aimed at addressing any one incident, but they are being considered after police received complaints about reckless throwing or tossing objects from elevated places like balconies.
The issue is pronounced in the beach cities where condominium towers line the beachfronts of both cities. In some cases, reports of broken beer bottles in and around condo swimming pools has raised concerns among some rental agencies.
“It’s another layer of protection for our owners and rental agencies on the behavior of visitors,” Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said. “This puts teeth in our ordinances.”
Bill Brett of Brett Robinson Vacation Rentals said the ordinance helps build awareness of the concern. Brett Robinson manages over 1,700 units including the Phoenix Towers and Island Winds.
“We’re just trying to control this a little bit,” Brett said.
The ordinance proposal in Orange Beach says that “throwing things” from balconies is “disorderly and dangerous to person and property” and that it’s in the best interest of the city to make it unlawful.
The ordinance also prohibits people from “jumping on, over and rom balconies.”
In 2016, a video surfaced showing a spring breaker jumping from a second-floor balcony into a swimming pool at a condo in Gulf Shores.
Violating the ordinance in Gulf Shores carries a minimum fine of $250. In Orange Beach, the fine can be up to $500.
Alabama law does not specifically state that tossing items off elevated structures is unlawful. State law does make it a felony for anyone convicted of tossing stones, bricks, metal objects and deadly missiles into moving vehicles.
The ordinances in the two Alabama cities are similar to a measure adopted eight years ago in Panama City Beach, Florida.
That ordinance was adopted the year after a spring breaker from Indiana tossed a cool full of ice off the 12th floor balcony of a Panama City Beach condo that landed on the pool deck and inches away from a county sheriff deputy.
The spring breaker was arrested and charged with a third-degree felony for throwing what authorities said was a “deadly missile.”