Gulf Shores Council Weighs Plate-Based Beach Parking, Canal Road Reroute Survey and New Assistant Administrator Post

GULF SHORES, Ala. — The Gulf Shores City Council’s Monday work session put a proposed reshuffle of the city’s top administrative ranks in front of council members, along with a $1.58 million street resurfacing contract, a $39,500 survey job tied to the State Highway 180 reroute and a three-year beachfront parking enforcement contract. The Gulf Shores council agenda for the Oct. 5 session, held at 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Gulf Shores City Hall, reflected a city that leaders say is growing quickly and needs a management structure to match.

Update, Oct. 7, 2026: New details from Monday’s Gulf Shores work session explain how Park Loyalty’s plate-based system would enforce resident beach parking and why the city is surveying a Canal Road reroute around the Gulf Pines neighborhood that it does not yet have money to build. The council is expected to vote on both items at its Oct. 12 regular meeting.

Latest developments: How plate-based beach parking would work

The proposed three-year Park Loyalty contract covers “beachfront parking enforcement, parking ticket collection and exempt plate registration for residents and property owners.” Council members could vote on it at the regular meeting Monday, Oct. 12. If approved, the system would start Jan. 1, 2027.

Who qualifies

• Full-time residents must have a Gulf Shores address on their driver’s license, and their license plates must be registered to a Gulf Shores address. There is no limit on how many vehicles a full-time resident can register. Only full-time residents would have access to the resident-only lot.
• Part-time property owners must present a property tax form or a deed, and vehicles must be registered in the property owner’s name. Each property can register up to two vehicles. According to the city, those vehicles may park free at any beach access except the East Gulf Place lot.

Replacing hurricane stickers

Right now, the city uses hurricane re-entry stickers to decide who can park in the resident-only lot at East Gulf Place, east of the Pink Pony Pub and the Phoenix All-Suites hotel. City officials say that system is riddled with problems. A city release called the change “a direct response to residents’ concerns about unauthorized use of parking decals and misuse of resident-only parking spaces.” Hurricane stickers would still be required for re-entry into the city after tropical storms and hurricanes; they just would no longer control parking.

Some owners of second homes and businesses raised concerns because they were left out of the resident-only lot. Police Chief Dan Netemeyer defended the approach.

“I think this is the fairest thing we can do,” Netemeyer said. “I think everybody agrees that the current system is not working. Everybody believes the line should be drawn but I also believe that everybody feels that they should be within that line. That’s just not possible.”

What the contract includes

• Enforcement hardware and conversion of the city’s existing hardware
• Annual software subscription and data packages
• DMV plate lookups to collect outstanding parking tickets
• Credit card payment processing
• Mailings to parking violators
• An online portal for motorists to pay outstanding tickets
• A portal for residents and property owners to register exempt plates
• Training and installation

“Residents will soon be able to submit exemption applications online through a new registration portal,” the city’s release said. “Exemptions may also be obtained at city of Gulf Shores special events, during neighborhood visits conducted by GSPD, and at the Justice Center. Once approved, license plates will be automatically entered into the parking system.”

Canal Road reroute: right-of-way first, construction money later

The $39,500 Sawgrass Consulting proposal would survey the right-of-way for a bypass that would move State Route 180, known as Canal Road, off its current path along the Intracoastal Waterway and through the Gulf Pines subdivision to a new road south of the neighborhood. The council is scheduled to vote on it Oct. 12.

The new roadway has been discussed since the city won a $14.4 million federal BUILD grant in 2019 for a pedestrian bridge and plaza at East Second Street and State Route 180. Officials hope to open that bridge this spring.

The survey is a small step, and there are no concrete plans yet for building the road itself.

“We don’t have plans or funds yet to build the road, but we’ve got the road to be built,” Mayor Robert Craft said. “We were trying to create a reroute. That took several years to get that, but we have that. It’s well understood here that that’s an expensive road to build, and we couldn’t do anything until we got the right-of-way.”

Waiting on traffic ‘warrants’

Lee Jones, assistant city administrator and community development director, said state money for the bypass could become available if traffic volumes rise enough to justify state action.

“If it’s warranted,” Jones told the council. “Any state road, whether it has a signal or an intersection or widening, is all based on warrant. Once it’s warranted, once the traffic demand warrants a new roadway to be built, then that’s when the state will consider it.”

Craft said he has already been in contact with people he expects to lead state government after the Nov. 3 governor’s race.

“We’ve got a new transportation director, and we’ve got a new governor, and any discussions that I’ve had directly with the new folks coming in, particularly with Coach Tuberville one-on-one, he understands the problem,” Craft said. “That’s not a commitment, but we had no commitment, no favorable discussion like this with the outgoing administration. We’ve got different folks coming in and a different story to tell, and we now have the right of way in place.”

City leaders have long wanted two-way traffic on the newer state bridge between the State Route 59 bridge in Gulf Shores and the former toll bridge in Orange Beach, which currently carries only southbound traffic. Craft believes allowing traffic in both directions could push more vehicles through the Gulf Pines area and help reach the threshold for state funding.

“Eventually, I believe, the 161 reroute and the new bridge that’s one way will eventually become two ways, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Craft said. “It will become an evacuation route or a daily get-off-the-island route in addition to 59. If that happens, it’s going to get busier and busier and that will give us the opportunity to work with the state to get this road built and provide back to the citizens who live in Gulf Pines not to have to deal with that traffic.”

Route and land swap

City officials say moving the road south of the neighborhood, away from its current route beside popular Meyer Park, would improve safety. The bypass would begin east of the city’s wastewater treatment plant on Canal Road, run between the plant and the former golf course at Gulf State Park, and connect to East Second Street south of East 20th Avenue and north of East 16th Avenue.

Part of the route crosses former Gulf State Park land the city obtained in a land swap with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources that took years to complete. A memo from Jones says the council approved the transfer of 30.19 acres of undeveloped state park land to the city. In exchange, the city gave up more than 53 acres, including 24 acres north of the Waterville USA water park and 25 acres north of East Second Avenue and west of Wade Ward Park. The state park land comes in two parcels, one on Canal Road east of the wastewater plant and one south of East 21st Avenue.

Other work session details

• New leadership posts: Once hired, the new operations executive, who would report directly to City Administrator Jon Walker, would earn about $145,000, and the second senior management analyst about $85,000. The city is considering spending $28,000 on recruitment for the positions in 2026.
• Home businesses: The Gulf Shores Planning Commission gave a favorable recommendation on Sept. 22 to the zoning change allowing more than one home occupation license per residence.
• Street resurfacing: The McElhenny Construction contract is for the city’s 2026 street resurfacing program.
• History book: PV Publications would produce the second edition of the city’s book, “Gulf Shores: Small Town, Big Beach, the Next Wave.” If the council approves, officials hope to have the book in hand for the 2027 National Shrimp Festival.

The centerpiece of the session was a recommendation from City Administrator Jon Walker to create a new Assistant Administrator of Operations position and add a second Senior Management Analyst. Together, the two positions would cost the city about $25,000 for the remainder of 2026 and roughly $310,000 a year after that.

Why Gulf Shores council members are weighing new leadership positions

As Gulf Shores continues to expand, city leaders have been evaluating how the organization is structured to make sure leadership stays aligned with the city’s long-term goals. Under the current setup, the city administrator oversees numerous direct reports, which the proposal says makes consistent collaboration on projects difficult.

The proposed Assistant Administrator of Operations would be responsible for streamlining city services and overseeing a group of departments that handle much of the city’s day-to-day and long-range physical work:

• Public Works
• Engineering
• Information Technology
• Capital Projects
• Recreation
• Cultural Affairs
• Municipal Court

Moving those departments under a single operations executive would reduce the number of executives reporting directly to the city administrator to eight. City leaders describe the change as a way to better align resources and to give major projects more consistent oversight.

A national search for the new post

If the position moves forward, recruiting for the Assistant Administrator of Operations would be handled by Strategic Government Resources, known as SGR, under a proposal for a 12-week national search. Executive search firms are commonly used by cities to recruit senior management, advertising the position widely, screening candidates and presenting finalists to local officials.

A second Senior Management Analyst

The city also plans to hire a second Senior Management Analyst. That position would support the executive leadership team in carrying out initiatives set by the council and in managing the city’s grant efforts. Grants are a significant funding source for many municipal projects, and pursuing and administering them typically requires detailed applications, reporting and compliance work.

What the staffing change would cost

According to the proposal, the personnel costs for both positions would total about $25,000 for the rest of 2026, reflecting the few months left in the calendar year. The ongoing cost would be about $310,000 per year once both positions are filled for a full year.

Home business licenses and sign rules

Planning Director J. Scott Stephens presented a proposed zoning text amendment, identified as ZTA26-000002, that would allow more than one home business license per residence. The amendment would also remove sign language from the zoning code that is content-restrictive, meaning rules that treat signs differently based on what they say.

The home business change has been in the works for several weeks. As reported in September, the proposed changes to the city’s home occupation ordinance would allow more than one home business per dwelling and drop a notarization requirement for renters.

For background, cities across the country have been revisiting content-based sign regulations since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, which held that sign rules that single out signs based on their message face the highest level of constitutional scrutiny.

State Highway 180 reroute surveys

Assistant City Administrator Lee Jones asked the council to consider accepting a $39,500 proposal from Sawgrass Consulting, LLC. The firm would prepare boundary surveys and subdivision plats related to the rerouting of State Highway 180, also known as Canal Road.

Boundary surveys establish the precise legal lines of parcels, and subdivision plats are the recorded maps that show how land is divided. Work of this kind is generally needed before a road can be built or realigned, because it documents exactly which land will be used for right-of-way and how adjoining property is affected.

$1.58 million for street resurfacing

The council also considered authorizing a contract with McElhenny Construction for miscellaneous street resurfacing across the city. Total project spending would be capped at $1,580,500.

The specific streets to be resurfaced were not detailed in the information released ahead of the meeting. Resurfacing typically involves milling away worn asphalt and laying a new surface, a routine but costly part of keeping city streets in good condition.

Beachfront parking enforcement contract with Park Loyalty

Police Chief Dan Netemeyer presented a proposed three-year contract with Park Loyalty worth $102,600. Under the proposal, the company would handle beachfront parking enforcement and resident permit management. Spread evenly over three years, the contract would average about $34,200 per year.

The proposal comes shortly after the council approved Ordinance 2229 on Sept. 28, which moves resident beach parking to plate-based exemptions and allows part-time property owners to register up to two vehicles. Those rules take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Beachfront parking is a recurring issue in Gulf Shores, where residents and visitors compete for limited spaces near the Gulf, especially during peak tourist seasons. Resident permit programs are designed to give people who live in the city access to parking at designated locations.

A second edition of the city’s history book

Recreation Director Grant Brown brought a proposal to authorize a $25,000 agreement with a publishing firm to produce a second edition of the city’s commemorative history book. The publishing firm and a release date for the new edition were not identified in the information released ahead of the meeting.

Other business

• Council discussion: Councilman Joe Garris Jr. was scheduled to open a discussion period during the meeting.
• Mayor’s update: Mayor Robert Craft was scheduled to give updates before adjournment.

By the numbers

• $310,000 — estimated annual ongoing cost of the two new staff positions
• $25,000 — estimated cost of the new positions for the rest of 2026
• 8 — executive direct reports the city administrator would have under the restructuring
• 12 weeks — length of the proposed national search for an Assistant Administrator of Operations
• $1,580,500 — spending cap on the street resurfacing contract
• $102,600 — value of the three-year Park Loyalty parking contract
• $39,500 — Sawgrass Consulting proposal for Highway 180 reroute surveys and plats
• $25,000 — proposed agreement for the history book’s second edition

What happens next

Results of Monday’s discussion were not immediately available. Work sessions give council members a chance to hear presentations from staff, ask questions and discuss items before formal action. Items reviewed at a work session are generally placed on a regular council meeting agenda for a vote.

If the council approves the staffing plan, the next steps would include launching SGR’s 12-week national search for the Assistant Administrator of Operations and recruiting the second Senior Management Analyst. The zoning text amendment, the resurfacing contract, the Park Loyalty agreement, the Sawgrass survey work and the history book agreement would each take effect only after council approval.

Residents who want to weigh in can attend council meetings at Gulf Shores City Hall, where meetings are open to the public.