BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (NBC 15) — Developers are building a golf course community north of Spanish Fort in Baldwin County. The Longleaf planned residential development master plan calls for a mix of single family homes and town homes, with a total of 1,015 units to built in phases. It’s located off Alabama 225 in the Whitehouse Fork community.
“They’re going in phases. It’s not going to be 1,000 properties overnight,” said Spanish Fort Mayor Brad Bass.
Developers tell NBC 15 News they’ll use six builders. DR Horton, which has built large neighborhoods throughout the area, is not one of them. Before the Spanish Fort City Council right now is a request to approve Longleaf’s zoning for the planned residential development. Bass says if that’s approved, he expects the developers will then request to be annexed into the city limits, but that doesn’t mean they’d be zoned for Spanish Fort schools.
“Where they sit now, they would be zoned for Bay Minette schools and the Bay Minette feeder pattern. You know, if you look at Spanish Fort the way it is now, part of Loxley city limits actually is zoned to the Spanish Fort feeder pattern. So, it does not follow city limit lines,” said Bass.
There are plans to build a club house and pickleball courts. There’s also 400 acres included for a farm animal sanctuary. Bass says with how far north it is, it’ll stretch their police patrol resources, but he says, they’re already planning on adding officers. Councilman Carl Gustafson says he understands the public’s frustrations with growing pains, but he says growth in inevitable.
“It will not stop and and quite honestly, growth will help us address something that is near and dear to my heart, and that is to find a solution to affordable housing. The only way to get into that issue is to allow growth to happen,” said Gustafson.
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The public can share their thoughts at a public hearing that will take place December 1st during Spanish Fort’s council meeting at 6 o’clock.
