A Loxley property owner has cleared a major hurdle in her plan to turn a stretch of family land into a wedding and reception venue, after the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission narrowly approved her request in a split vote.
Robin Gregorius sought a conditional use permit to build the venue on her 15-acre property in the 25000 block of County Road 49, land that includes her two-story home, three ponds, two bridges and a wooded buffer. The commission voted 4-3 in her favor, with the chairman stepping in to break a tie among the six regular voting members.
Commissioners Dale Marston, Art Hosey and Cassie Boatwright voted to approve the request, while Dewane Hayes, Kevin Murphy and Michael Kaiser voted against it. Because the panel deadlocked at three votes apiece, Chairman Sam Davis, who only casts a vote to break ties, sided with approval, allowing Gregorius to move forward.
Gregorius, who also runs Country Gables Assisted Living in Grand Bay, said she wasn’t confident going into the meeting that the commission would side with her. “I felt that what I had shown them was really deserving for use on my property,” she said afterward. “If I hadn’t gotten it, I would have been so disappointed that they didn’t see the need for another option in Baldwin County.”
Not everyone in the area supported the plan. Some neighbors raised concerns during the process about the potential for increased traffic and noise from wedding events held near their homes, worries that are common when rural residential land shifts toward hosting commercial gatherings.
To address those concerns, the commission attached several conditions to the approval. Parking will not be allowed along County Road 49 itself, meaning any vehicle overflow will need to stay on Gregorius’ property. Guests will not be permitted to stay overnight at the venue, ruling out the kind of extended-stay events some wedding venues offer elsewhere. The commission also required Gregorius to install a hedge buffer along the property line, intended to screen the venue from neighboring homes and soften noise from outdoor events.
Gregorius said she intends to honor both the letter and the spirit of those conditions as she moves toward opening. “It’s not going to be loud and obnoxious by any means, and it’s just going to be for a few hours here and there,” she said, adding that she has not yet settled on a firm timeline for when the venue will begin hosting its first events.
The approval adds another option to a growing list of rural wedding and event venues across Baldwin County, where landowners have increasingly sought to convert agricultural or residential acreage into spaces for weddings, receptions and similar gatherings, often navigating the same tension between property rights and neighbors’ quality-of-life concerns that played out in Gregorius’ case.