The Orange Beach Planning Commission held its regular meeting at 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10, in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Commissioners began the meeting with an election of a new vice chairman before moving into approval of the agenda and minutes from the commission’s July 13 regular meeting.
Public Hearing on Comprehensive Plan
The centerpiece of Monday’s agenda was a public hearing and vote on adoption of the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan. Comprehensive plans typically serve as long-range policy documents that guide future land use, zoning and development decisions across a city, and their adoption often follows an extended public review process.
Two Storage Facility Cases on the Agenda
Commissioners also considered two conditional use cases involving storage facilities, both listed under items submitted but not meeting the second deadline.
The first, Case No. 0801-CU-26, involved a request from Lieb Engineering Company on behalf of All About Storage OBA LLC for a recommendation to the City Council for conditional use approval of an expansion at All About Storage. The proposed expansion would add four storage buildings at the property located at 24140 Canal Road, which sits in the General Business zoning district.
The second, Case No. 0802-CU-26, was a request from Robert Norris for a recommendation to the City Council for conditional use approval of the Toy Chest Garage Condominium, a proposed climate-controlled, gated garage condominium facility. The project would include six storage buildings and a clubhouse at 5616 Roscoe Road, also in the General Business zoning district.
The meeting concluded with time set aside for other business and public comments before adjournment. The full agenda packet for the meeting is available through the city’s website.
Update: What’s in the New Comprehensive Plan
The updated Comprehensive Plan replaces the city’s 2020 version and is intended to guide Orange Beach’s development for years to come, with an emphasis on natural resource preservation, walkable neighborhoods and economic diversification. Major components include a proposed “Town Center Concept” — a downtown district near the Canal Road roundabout featuring mixed-use buildings, commercial space, a relocated history museum and an event center — along with corridor design upgrades along Perdido Beach Boulevard aimed at improving pedestrian accessibility and streetscape aesthetics. The plan also calls for infrastructure expansion, including improvements to school campuses, drainage systems along Highway 182 and a medical complex corridor on Orange Beach Boulevard.
Both storage facility applicants requested, and were granted, deferral of their cases until the commission’s Sept. 14, 2026 meeting: All About Storage OBA LLC’s proposed four-building expansion at 24140 Canal Road, and Robert Norris’s Toy Chest Garage Condominium project at 5616 Roscoe Road, which faces wetlands concerns.