The Fairhope City Council has extended its building moratorium for another month, continuing a pause on certain residential applications while officials finish overhauls of the city’s zoning codes and infrastructure plans.
During its June 29 meeting, the council voted unanimously to extend the moratorium for one month. Councilman Jay Robinson was not present. Councilman Jack Burrell successfully moved to suspend council rules and immediately consider adoption of the resolution, with Councilman Joshua Gammon, serving his first term, seconding the motion.
Why the pause continues
The original resolution, passed in November 2025, was designed to buy the city time. “There has been rapid and substantial growth in and around the city of Fairhope,” it reads. “The explosive growth has increased the burden on public utilities, roads, and other infrastructure as well as the health, safety, and general welfare of the community.”
Ordinance No. 1823 suspended consideration of certain residential dwelling multiple-occupancy project applications and certain subdivision applications while the city made infrastructure upgrades, conducted capacity studies, and proposed changes to the Fairhope Subdivision Regulations and Zoning Ordinance consistent with the city’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan.
The moratorium was originally set to expire July 17. Monday’s vote extends it once more, and officials signaled the end is near.
“I really expect this to be the last one”
Gammon said the council is not expecting to pass further extensions.
“I really expect this to be the last one that we need to take for quite some time,” he said. “We’re very hopeful that the ordinances that we have proposed are going to get some good traction in the next coming weeks. We’ve been working really hard these last few months on getting some good regulations and guidelines in place for controlling our growth and listening to our constituents. I’m very proud that we were able to get a limit proposed on the PUD requests for a density of no more than three units per acre.”
Burrell, who has been the moratorium’s most visible proponent, did not respond to a request for comment. At its original passage, he framed the pause as a catch-up measure: “We’re trying to catch up on infrastructure. I don’t think that we’ve caught up enough. We have the pause to try to get our rules and regulations in our zoning ordinances in order.”
What the moratorium blocks
The resolution affects multi-occupancy project applications for apartment complexes, and also subdivisions featuring three or more residential lots smaller than 10,500 square feet. Single-family projects on larger lots and most other development continue to move through the approval process normally.
Fairhope is far from alone in taking this approach. Last year, several other Baldwin County cities passed moratoriums and extensions on certain development, including Foley, Orange Beach and Robertsdale. To the north, the Daphne City Council has also been scheduled to consider its own moratorium on certain residential development applications.
The rapid growth that prompted the measures has been one of Baldwin County’s defining stories: the county has regularly ranked among Alabama’s fastest-growing, with Fairhope’s schools, roads and utilities absorbing thousands of new residents a year. City officials have argued the pause lets them write rules that shape growth rather than chase it — capping density in planned developments, upgrading water and sewer capacity, and updating subdivision standards written decades ago.
With the extension running through mid-July, developers and residents alike will be watching to see whether the city’s new zoning ordinances land as promised — and whether this truly is the final pause.