Baldwin County Ends Summerdale Permit Jurisdiction Deal Early, Costing Town Budgeted Revenue

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — The Baldwin County Commission has voted to end its Summerdale permit jurisdiction agreement early, a decision that will strip the small town of building permit revenue its mayor says was already counted in this year’s budget. The cancellation takes effect Nov. 5, nearly two months before the arrangement was set to expire at the end of December.

Commissioners approved the notice of cancellation during their Oct. 6 meeting in Bay Minette on a 2-1 vote. Summerdale Mayor Randy Farris said he learned the item was on the agenda only a few hours before the meeting began.

What the commission did

For several years, Baldwin County has allowed Summerdale to collect construction permit fees in areas outside its town limits but inside its police jurisdiction. The commission’s vote gives notice that the county will end that agreement with Summerdale on Nov. 5.

Commission President Jeb Ball and Commissioner Billie Jo Underwood voted in favor. District 2 Commissioner Matt McKenzie, whose district includes Summerdale, cast the lone “no” vote. District 4 Commissioner Skip Gruber was not present for the meeting.

Neither Ball nor Underwood explained during the meeting why they wanted to end the agreement roughly two months ahead of its scheduled expiration. County Administrator Roger Rendleman declined to comment.

Why the county says it acted now

The only explanation offered publicly came from County Engineer Frank Lundy, who tied the timing to a single large residential project in the area covered by the agreement. According to Lundy, homebuilding in that development is expected to begin at about the same time the program had been scheduled to end.

“There is a large development within this jurisdiction that will very likely begin building homes just before the current agreement expires in December,” Lundy said. “Terminating the agreement now allows the buildings in this development to all be permitted and inspected under one jurisdiction.”

In practical terms, ending the agreement early means the county, rather than Summerdale, will permit and inspect the homes in that development from the start. The town will not collect building or permit fees from the project, even though the site lies within the area that Summerdale police patrol.

Lundy did not name the development during the meeting.

‘It’s a pretty penny for us’

Farris said the short notice caught the town off guard.

“I was not aware of this until this morning,” Farris said last week. “[Removing Summerdale from the program] will be impactful. It’s a pretty penny for us.”

The mayor said the permit revenue was already built into Summerdale’s budget for the fiscal year, so the town will have to cover the gap with money from other sources to avoid a shortfall.

“We baked it into our annual budget,” he said. “This is a good flow of money.”

Farris did not give a dollar figure for how much the town expects to lose.

McKenzie: ‘It’s wrong’

McKenzie made clear during the meeting that he expected to lose the vote.

“I knew it was going to pass when I pulled in (this morning),” McKenzie said. “I almost didn’t show up today. It sets the wrong precedent when we just passed this a few months ago … It’s wrong.”

He argued the commission should not be shaping policy around the timing of a private development.

“When did we ever listen to developers?” McKenzie said. “When does the county commission ever listen to developers? We always try to listen and help the landowner or something. I don’t really understand it … Neither one of the commissioners commented when I asked the question or was talking about it. I’m really disappointed.”

McKenzie used the same “when do we ever listen to developers” line at that Oct. 6 meeting while voicing support for a separate measure, a 180-day moratorium on rezoning requests and on new data center and renewable energy projects in the county’s zoned unincorporated areas. That pause, approved unanimously, was pitched as a way to give the county’s overloaded planning staff time to catch up with growth.

How the permit arrangement came about

The agreement grew out of a state law that drew a line between county and municipal responsibility for building permits and codes. Under that law, counties enforce building permits and codes in their areas, and municipalities do so within their own limits.

After the law took effect, Baldwin County set up the program that let Summerdale continue collecting construction permit fees in its police jurisdiction, the territory outside town limits where Alabama law allows a municipality to exercise certain police powers. The Town of Silverhill also participates in the program.

In July, the commission voted to extend the agreements with both Summerdale and Silverhill through December. The idea, at the time, was to let the incoming county commissioners, who take office in November, decide whether to continue the program.

The notice approved Oct. 6 concerned Summerdale’s agreement. It was not immediately clear whether Silverhill’s arrangement will be affected.

A county wrestling with growth

The dispute comes as Baldwin County continues to deal with rapid population growth and the wave of construction that has come with it. New subdivisions and commercial projects have spread across the county in recent years, and residents have repeatedly raised concerns about overdevelopment, traffic and strain on roads, schools and drainage.

Local officials have responded by taking a firmer hand with development, passing laws and ordinances aimed at controlling growth and slowing the pace of construction. Building permits and inspections are a key part of that picture. Permit fees help pay for the inspectors who check that new homes meet building codes, and the agency that issues the permits is the one homeowners and builders deal with from foundation to final inspection.

For small towns like Summerdale, a farming community along Alabama 59 in central Baldwin County, permit fees from growth just outside town limits can be a meaningful source of revenue. Under the county program, that revenue was tied to territory the town’s police department already covers.

A commission in transition

The timing of the vote also stands out because of the turnover coming to the commission. All of the current commissioners except Underwood are being replaced for the coming four-year term.

McKenzie’s District 2 seat will be taken by Angelo Fermo on Nov. 11. The July extension had been designed to leave the future of the permit program to that new group. Under the Oct. 6 vote, the Summerdale agreement will end Nov. 5, before the new commissioners are sworn in.

The vote also came just days before Hurricane Isaias reached the northern Gulf Coast. County officials were preparing at the time for what could have been a Category 3 storm; Isaias ultimately made landfall near Destin, Florida, on Oct. 9 as a Category 2 hurricane.

What happens next

• Nov. 5: The county’s cancellation of the Summerdale agreement takes effect. After that date, permits and inspections in the affected area will be handled by Baldwin County.
• November: New county commissioners take office, with Fermo succeeding McKenzie in District 2 on Nov. 11.
• December: The previously scheduled end date for the extended permit program approved in July.

Summerdale officials will need to adjust the town’s budget to account for the lost revenue. Builders and property owners in Summerdale’s police jurisdiction who plan new construction should check with Baldwin County about permit and inspection requirements once the change takes effect.