Maritime project approved by council

Developers seek to preserve 60 percent of forested tract

Thursday, April 17, 2008

By RYAN DEZEMBER Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH -- Praising designs that will leave more than 100 acres of forest and wetlands intact, the City Council on Tuesday approved plans for Maritime, a mixed-use project planned for 182 acres between Canal Road and Gulf State Park.

The developers, Pat Martin and Paul Monroe, plan to build 325 residential units -- a mix of 211 houses, 55 townhomes and 59 condos -- and nearly 210,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and office space.

"This is probably one of the most well-thought-out (planned unit developments) that's ever come before the city," said Mayor Pete Blalock. "I think it's great. I don't know what else we could ask for."

The council voted unanimously in favor of the plans, though Councilwoman Tracy Holiday abstained because her husband, Tim McCrory, was once a partner with the developers on the property.

By clustering buildings into neighborhoods on pockets of uplands, and by arranging the homes on narrower lots and closer together than normal city zoning allows, the developers will be able to leave alone much of the maritime forest and wetlands. To do so, however, they needed planned unit development zoning.

Community Development Director Jim Lawson told council members that had the developers designed Maritime under the city's typical zoning rules, they wouldn't have had room for nearly as much open space.

"This is a really good example of what to do in a (planned unit development) because even though it deviates from our standards, it sure does deviate from our standards in that they've left wetlands and open space," he said.

Hunter Gee, an architect with the firm Looney Ricks Kiss, which is working on Maritime, said the houses -- which will vary widely in style and price -- will be designed and arranged so that the limited space between them is not an issue.

"When you're only 10 feet away from your neighbor you've got to look at those details so that you're not looking right into the master bedroom from the living room next door," he said. "We'll site the homes, orient the homes and design the homes in a way that ensures privacy throughout."

The property is generally divided into four developed areas. The largest covers about 40 acres at the property's southern edge and backs up to an oak-lined ridge that the developers say will afford a wintertime view to the Gulf of Mexico.

There are two other smaller pockets of homes to the east and west of the property and an area called the Village Center, which will include most of the shops, eateries and offices in two- to three-story buildings topped with condos, Gee said.

"We thought about creating something very unique for Orange Beach and something that is permanent homes, not rental properties, but permanent homes and possibly some second homes -- but mainly single-family with a great village center and total mixed-use from restaurants to offices to condos above -- and this is what we ended up with," said Martin, who started piecing together the property with his partner three years ago.

Besides conserving much of the site, Gee said the developers seek to create a development that won't become outdated in a decade or two and will attract a wide range of residents, from first-time buyers to moneyed retirees.