Council tosses life raft to cruise charter - Baldwin County NOW

Council tosses life raft to cruise charter - Baldwin County NOW - A Gulf Coast Information Source for South Alabama: "ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — For several years, Bill Mitchell, owner of Cetacean Cruise Charter Boats, has been running his 30-passenger dolphin cruise boat from his home on West Perdido Avenue in Orange Beach.

His home is on a dead end street, he is literally surrounded by commercial Real Estate, and all his neighbors seem to love him.

But when he got ready to add a 39-passenger sailboat to his fleet he ran into an obstacle. That obstacle was the zoning ordinances of Orange Beach.

In January 2003, Mitchell requested a home occupation business license in order to legally run his dolphin cruise.

He leased the lot next door to his property in order to adequately supply parking spaces for his business and a his request was approved by the city. Then in January of this year, Mitchell requested another license in order to add the sailboat.

Mitchell’s request went before the Planning Commission and received 6-3 vote in favor to recommend conditional use approval, and it headed to the city council for a final vote."