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MAGNOLIA SPRINGS – Citizens attended both the Magnolia Springs’ Oct. work session and town council meeting, voicing concerns about a proposed RV park on Beasley Road. Citizens expressed anxiety that an RV park will reduce the value of their properties and compromise safety.

The proposed RV park is currently processing through the Baldwin County Planning Commission, and questions were raised to Magnolia Springs Planning Commission about whether or not the RV park falls under its jurisdiction, and if the park meets the town’s subdivision regulations.

The RV park was originally brought before the Magnolia Springs Planning Commission on June 8, when Chris Lieb, an engineer with Lieb Engineering, attended to learn the next steps his clients must take to bring the RV park into existence.

“Chris Lieb said that they want to subdivide the property into 135 lots,” said Magnolia Springs legal counsel Brad Hicks, reading from the meeting’s minutes. “They were looking to lease to individuals for a few months at a time, and each site would have water and electric. They were still trying to decide if there’d be sewer or a dump station, and a storm water detention pond was going to be included.”

During the June 8 meeting, the council informed Lieb that there would be a 45-day submittal, and that it would most likely be heard at the Sept. Planning Commission meeting. However, on Aug. 22, the park developer told the town that they were no longer going to be subdividing the property and would go through the county instead of town officials for approval.

This prompted Mayor Bob Holk, in his capacity as Vice Charmain of the Planning Commission, to send a letter to Lieb on Aug. 24, stating that if the property owners would not be dividing the land into lots, then they would not have to comply with Magnolia Springs’ subdivision regulations. If the subdivider does not need to go through the town’s subdivision regulations, then it would fall solely on the county’s planning commission to make the decision of whether the RV park could be created. Subdivisions only apply when taking one piece of property and making it into two or more, so once the owner decided against subdividing, the town’s subdivision regulations no longer applied.

However, Magnolia Springs townsfolk still have strong concerns and voiced them at the Oct. 10 work session, asking that the council and the planning commission continue looking into the matter. Additional information was afterwards requested from the Baldwin County Planning Commission by the Magnolia Springs Planning Commission, and Hicks advised the town’s commission to investigate further to see whether the proposed park would indeed be a subdivision, which would prompt the town’s commission to determine if it was within the town’s regulations and if it would have to comply to them.

“So, what’s happened since is we’ve notified all parties of when the next planning commission meeting is,” said Hicks. “We’ve invited and encouraged them all to attend, and we’ve sent a letter to Lieb withdrawing the Aug. 24 letter and asking them to submit to us everything that they’ve already submitted to the county. Then the town’s planning commission will make a determination at their next meeting.”

Magnolia Springs shares dual-jurisdiction with the county on the discussed property. The Baldwin County Planning Commission will meet prior to Magnolia Springs commission, but with the dual-jurisdiction in place it will be more complicated than one side voting yes or no.

“We’ve advised the county that we’re taking a look at this,” Hicks said. “But when subdivisions go through the ETJ [Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, or the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries] the county is involved anyway. Had the property owners filed a subdivision request with us and not the county, it’s not as if we’d be on an island without the county, it still has to go to the county engineer, any subdivision does. So, the county knows that we’re considering this and the applicant knows that we’re considering this, and there’s an agreement between Magnolia Springs and the county, as there is with all municipalities regarding jurisdiction in the ETJ, and the county is well aware of that agreement.”

Under the agreement, Magnolia Springs has the right to use its subdivision regulations over people wanting to subdivide land. Hicks explained that the county needs Magnolia Springs’ approval for any plat that falls in the town’s ETJ.

If it is determined that the RV park does not fall within Magnolia Springs subdivision regulation, Holk stated that town citizens could speak with the county themselves.

“Their commission meetings are just like our planning commissions,” Holk said. “They’re public meetings. There’s dual-jurisdiction here, so not only are we the ones to speak with, so is the county. They may end up deciding on it; we may look at it again at our planning commission and say it doesn’t need to go through our regulations, I don’t know. So I wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket. You need to be there at Baldwin County just as strong as you’re here with us.”

But what if the town’s planning commission does decide that the RV park falls under their subdivision regulations? When the county and the area both have subdivision regulations, it typically goes under the stricter of the two.

Holk reiterated that the decision the commission would be making at the time of the Magnolia Springs Nov. planning commission meeting would be whether it felt the RV park would come under its subdivision regulations, not if it would be coming to the town or not. Currently, no formal paperwork has been submitted to the town’s commission that requires its approval of the park and Holk stressed that it would not be the council that would be influencing the decision but instead the planning commission. He urged town citizens on either side of the issue to attend the planning commission meeting to make their voices heard, or welcomed them to submit their opinions in writing to Town Hall.

“It’s not a black and white type of thing,” Holk said. “So it certainly deserves an opportunity for both sides to express their opinions and why they feel it does or doesn’t fall under our subdivision regulations, and that’s the decision we would be making. We have looked into it, and we have to look at both sides to make sure everybody’s getting a fair deal.”

For more information on Magnolia Springs Planning Commission meeting dates, check their website at www.TownOfMagnoliaSprings.org. For more information on the Baldwin County Planning Commission meeting dates, check their website at BaldwinCountyAL.gov.