During last week’s work session, Gulf Shores city leaders discussed a potential $30,000 study to look at what impact changes coming to Gulf State Park could have on the city.

Steve Griffin, city administrator, told the council he hoped the city would approve the study being done with Sasaki and Associates.

“I’d like to look at how to blend our community with the state park and blend the state park with our community so that we’re not doing this in an isolated way,” Griffin said.

Griffin reminded the council of several improvements that would soon be coming online at the park within the next few years.

“I don’t if you if you realize but the sum total of what is happening in the state park, but there are things like a 350 room lodge facility and 40,000 square feet of conference space scheduled to open in May 2018,” Griffin said. “If you pause for a little bit, 40,000 square feet means about 1,500 attendees to any event but only 350 rooms at the lodge facility. So, those meeting attendees and conference people will need accommodations either in Gulf Shores or Orange Beach. There’s that positive impact to our community.”

Griffin said there were other facilities being planned for the state park, including a new interpretive center, a research and education facility and an expanded trail and trolley system that could all provide unexpected benefits to Gulf Shores.

“They’re proposing a trolley system,” Griffin said. “That trolley system doesn’t necessarily have to be contained in the state park. It could be used in partnership with the city to move visitors to and from the state park from Gulf Shores.”

However, Griffin said one potential negative aspect to all the development could be the traffic impact.

“We definitely need to look at the transportation impact of any of these developments,” Griffin said. “In talking with state park officials and ALDOT about the Holmes Bridge, we found that 24 percent of all the traffic going across the Holmes Bridge is actually going to Orange Beach or Gulf State Park, so it’s certainly something we should look at.”

Griffin said the study would also feature a component to look at ways to help the local business community.

“What this proposal looks at is some of the business and economic development opportunities,” Griffin said. “When you have all of these visitors coming to Gulf State Park, how do we need to position ourselves for new or expanded business improvement to accommodate those new visitors?”

Sasaki and Associates has already been doing studies and work on the Gulf State Park area, and Mayor Robert Craft said the city was lucky to be able to work with the nationally acclaimed firm that already had a wealth of experience in this area.

“Obviously a company of this national acclaim and experience would not be one we would be able to pursue if that had not been working so long and hard in our community and already have this backlog of information” Craft said. “We’re able to get them at a price that helps us plan better for the future about all the issues Steve just discussed. It’s a unique opportunity I strongly encourage us to consider taking advantage of.”

Gary Ellis agreed with Craft.

“I think it’s really remarkable that we’re going to be able to get the same firm that did all this work on the Gulf State Park and leverage their knowledge, understanding and awareness of the work they’ve done and the planning they’ve done so you’re not starting over with another consultant trying to figure all of that out,” Ellis said. “Starting from a synergistic point is just a good idea. I’m very much in favor of it, both as a citizen and a landowner.”