Thursday, April 24, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter
BAY MINETTE A lawyer for Gulf Shores has asked that the Fort Morgan Civic Association's suit against the city be dismissed after the group has twice sent representatives to court-ordered mediation sessions without giving them the authority to approve a settlement.
The city and Fort Morgan residents have been in court since 2003 when the Civic Association and three individuals sued to overturn the city's annexation of the 19.3-mile state-owned right of way that bisects the peninsula. The plaintiffs have argued that the move violated their right to have a say in the development of the property around their own, and that city zoning laws will allow for the overdevelopment of the slender spit of sand.
In December, the Gulf Shores City Council unanimously approved an agreement drawn up by three city officials and a trio of Fort Morgan residents during the last round of mediation talks that would have created a special zoning district for the ecologically fragile peninsula. But the 400-member Civic Association voted down the deal in March.
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