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APRIL 12, 2017 | GulfCoastNewsToday.com |
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Could food trucks soon be allowed in Gulf Shores?
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism celebrates volunteer ambassadors Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism honored its volunteers at the annual Ambassador Appreciation Luncheon at The Event Center at Cosmo’s Courtyard in Orange Beach. Over the past year, these volunteers spent many hours working diligently to prepare 18,233 sporting event bags for the Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Sports Commission, 31,157 conventions and meetings bags for the sales team and greeting guests in the welcome centers. To learn more about these awesome ambassadors for our area, visit Page 36.
Council considers ordinance changing for mobile vendors
Gulf Coast Arts Alliance hold memorial show the works of this well-known artist. At the request of her family and her life-long partner, Kathy Johnson, all proceeds from the sale of Young’s work during the month of April will be given to the non-profit she loved so much, the Gulf Coast Arts Alliance. Young grew up in rural Southwest Mississippi, received her B.S. and M.S. degrees at the Uni-
SUBMITTED The Gulf Coast Arts Alliance will have a special memorial exhibit for one of the Gulf Coast’s most beloved folk artists, Opal Young, who passed away in February. The Opal Young Memorial Exhibit will be April 16-29 with a reception to be held from 6-8 p.m. on April 17. The public has a special invitation to attend, enjoy refreshments and browse
SEE ART, PAGE
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Talking transit troubles Island cities consider mobility options By CRYSTAL COLE crystal@gulfcoastmedia.com
Baldwin EMC hosts record blood drive A record 122 pints of blood were donated in a recent blood drive sponsored by Baldwin EMC. To learn more about the event that could save as many as 366 lives, turn to Page 37.
DEATHS
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Claude D. Boone Donald O. Darrough Jr. Jeffrey Mark Day Alexis Marie Gorham Albert Leon Murrell Mary Lucinda Murrell Sara W. Piper Janice Angeline Wilkinson Graham Wyatt Younce Elsie E. Zywicki
The white sand beaches in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach attract over a million visitors each year, and elected officials within those municipalities are debating the best ways to address problems of mobility for those visitors once they arrive. Both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach are considering new proposals to help increase visitors’ abilities to get around the area, including ride sharing programs like Uber and Lyft and public transit options.
Gulf Shores considers allowing Uber, other ride sharing companies During last week’s Gulf Shores City Council meeting, Revenue Supervisor Marcy Kichler presented the council with a transportation network company ordinance that could allow a structured way for the
city to allow ride sharing companies like Uber or Lyft to operate within the city. “Citizens and visitors to the area are very familiar with ride sourcing companies, and they’ve expressed a strong desire to have the transportation option available to them,” Kichler said. “We’ve drafted the requirements for the transportation network company ordinance as closely as reasonable to our taxi cab ordinance, considering they have similar business needs.” Kichler said the companies would have to go through the same requirements the city expects of cab companies within its borders. “The brief highlight of the requirements are an annual business and franchise agreement will be required, annual vehicle inspection by an NSB certified garage, national local criminal background checks, driving record checks and national sex
offender data base checks will be required annually,” Kichler said. “They also would need to have primary auto liability insurance that provides $1 million in coverage. The vehicles also have to be approved by the chief of police.” There is one change to the proposed ordinance that would be different than the cab companies’ regulations - transportation network company drivers would not be allowed to solicit riders anywhere but on their apps. “One restriction different from the taxi drivers is that TNC drivers are restricted to pre-arranged rides that were scheduled on the digital platform,” Kichler said. “They can’t solicit street hails or pick up people they solicit.” The ordinance, if approved, would also expire Dec. 31, 2018, giving the council the ability to renew it or cancel it if the city SEE TRANSIT, PAGE
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By CRYSTAL COLE crystal@gulfcoastmedia.com
Gulf Shores’ city leaders and residents discussed a possible ordinance change during last week’s council work session that could see food trucks and mobile vendor courts soon become a part of the city’s business landscape. Planning Director Andy Bauer told the council the amendment to the ordinance contained two possibilities council members could approve: one governing mobile vendor courts for food trucks and then one just allowing food trucks at specific locations. “What the proposed regulations will do is provide for minimum standards and an application review process for both food trucks and the mobile vendor court, both of which would only be allowed by conditional use permit approval,” Bauer said. “Conditional use permit approval must be processed in front of the planning commission and the city council in public hearings, and also conditional use permitting gives the planning commission and city council the authority to approve with conditions or deny the permit based on the individual specifics of each application.” Bauer said the changes were proposed after hearing from members of the community. “The reason we’ve developed this proposal is we’ve gotten requests from several local property owners and businesses owners that would like to either develop a property with a mobile vendor court or have a food truck at an existing business, so we thought that was something we could bring forward,” Bauer said. A mobile vendor court, according to Bauer, would be a permanent site where a number of food trucks could park and situate for a long length of time. “A mobile vendor court would have similar requirements as if you were building a new business,” Bauer said. “You have to put in parking, landscaping, drainage, utilities, bathrooms, so SEE FOOD TRUCKS, PAGE
Gulf Coast Media
BALDWIN LIVING, 5-7
OUT & ABOUT, 27
CLASSIFIED, 10-11
PUZZLES, 12
HEALTH, 24-26
SPORTS, 15-17
VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 16
LEGALS, 28-34
TV LISTINGS, 18-21
1 SECTION • 40 PAGES
OPINION, 13-14
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