Entire Zoning and Planning Commission resigns

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - All nine members of the Baldwin County Zoning and Planning Commission turned in their resignations Friday.

“I’m pretty sure they’re not concerned about planning for the future, but they’d rather return to the wild, Wild West,” said former Planning Commission member Doug Holton of the Baldwin County Commission.

Holton said he and the other eight members of the board resigned because all of their authority has been taken away by the county commission. 

In their letters of resignation, Holton and other board members blamed their quitting on the county commission’s recent scrapping of the Horizon 2025 development plan and the fact that the County Commission now oversees subdivision applications among other things.

“I think it’s been something that’s been building for several months with several commissioners,” Holton said.  “It had just gotten to a point, I guess, where there’s just a philosophical difference between the Baldwin County Commission and the Baldwin County Planning Commission.”

Baldwin County Commission President Tucker Dorsey has been an outspoken opponent of the Horizon 2025 plan.  He said that plan was too restrictive and the county needs to move in another direction.

 He said the resignations did surprise him though, because the two commissions have had a better working relationship for the last few months.

“I’m disappointed,” Dorsey said. “I understand their frustration.  They’ve let us know that they’re frustrated with the process.  The bottom line is, we’re the elected authority to negotiate and manage the comprehensive plan and the subdivision regulations.”

Until new Commission members can be appointed, the county’s planning and zoning director will oversee the department’s business under the direction of the county commission.

 In the meantime, Dorsey said there shouldn’t be any hold ups in ongoing projects. They hope to instate some new members to that board as early as next month.

“We’ll have nine people that will be a good representation of Baldwin County appointed to the new Planning and Zoning Commission, and they’ll get to business right away,” explained Dorsey.

The county commission plans to call a special session at the next regularly scheduled meeting to further discuss plans to move forward.  That meeting will be on November 20.