Daphne and Fairhope have a lot more in common than some think. One thing is that, if you allow the developers full rein, they will develop every square inch of land. Fairhope has Fly Creek Apartments and Daphne has the Daphmont neighborhood at Johnson road and highway 98. The intersection has already been impacted by the recent construction of apartments. Daphne planning board OKs 19-building apartment complex - al.com Mobile-based Big Sandy LLC is developing the 20-acre site, southeast of the intersection of Johnson Road and the state highway, as Colonnade at Eastern Shore. Heritage Construction Company out of Madison, Miss. is handling the project engineered by Hutchinson, Moore & Rauch LLC of Daphne.

JOKE llp. Have you noticed that no one on the Fairhope City Council wants to address any questions about the soccer fields! In addition to all the other issues that Fairhope faces, the soccer fields have yet to become an issue. I am sure that the council will not take action to investigate anything themselves. What is needed is a citizens committee, independent of the council, to thoroughly investigate the soccer field complex from purchase to present. Review all the contract documents and sub contractors, identify where fill material came from and cost of grading etc. Everything.

Fairhope you have two choices. Believe in Mayor Wilson and her ideas on infrastructure and growth or follow a city council who has demonstrated no leadership, has adopted the theme of no action, is in denial of facts, and refuses to adapt to changing demographics, or change period. FACT: Fairhope is the fastest growing city in Alabama. FACT: Fairhope Schools did not rank in the top 25. FACT: The first two facts are a direct result of the population explosion, unbridled development and greed. Fact: Ignore the above and schools will decline so will the quality of life, commute times will be longer, and property values will decline. FACT: Fairhope infrastructure sewer, electric and water all are in dire need of repairs, after years of neglect, and assets like the Pool and Athletic Center, Nix center, Quail Creek golf course clubhouse and library all need major repairs. FACT: The Council has hindered any progress in addressing major issues and their lack of leadership and reluctance for change will only exacerbate the problems. They harp against change while the whole county is changing daily. If they continue to ignore the obvious and support Mr Boone and Mr Burrell’s campaign to oust the Mayor, at any expense, the Fairhope that once was, will be no more.

Fairhope has a fascination for holes. They approved digging a hole for a strip center to accommodate a Publix. That venture has been controversial ever since and spawned several lawsuits. The developers now want to locate apartments over the already damaged Fly Creek over the objections of the vast majority of Fairhope citizens. Fairhope soccer fields required months of grading and an estimated 1.5 million dollars to fill in one end of the property to seek a level grade. The total price tag for the complex is still not really known, somewhere between 5 and 6 million dollars.

Fairhope City Hall has leaks of confidential city information and HR information coming from certain city employees to Gulf Coast News. Congratulations on the news scoop, however your information is coming from unnamed sources or disgruntled employees. Tracking software installed on 7 Fairhope employees' computers Software that tracks employee computer usage and key strokes was placed on the computers of at least seven City of Fairhope employees, allegedly at the direction of Mayor Karin Wilson. Those …

Today the phrase "to open Pandora's box" means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching negative consequences. Once open all the evils fly out, only leaving the good. Fairhope has opened Pandora’s box thanks to the HR director and her $100,000 lawsuit against the city. Now the contents are slowly going to be public. The latest item out of the box is the claim of Sherry Sullivan and her wrongful termination.

Fairhope politics has taken on a coup mentality. Mayor Wilson upset the apple cart of two political groups: Tim Kant followers, and Jack Burrell and his cronies, both supported by Catalyst. Kant followers have fallen off in recent years and Mr Burrell was assured by Kant he would be the next mayor, along with two others. Jack hedged his position by playing both sides to his benefit however mayor Wilson winning was not in the cards.

Fairhope has been cited for many national awards for its beauty. But, it deserves awards for more than just flowers. Placing a gas station located on a safety roundabout in a residential area on the city’s gateway, Fairhope Avenue and 13, only two blocks from three other filling stations/convenience stores, certainly will be an American oddity; and altogether deserving of an Onion American Planning award. This is so bad in terms of safety negligence that it even beats building a fire station on a dead end road (Parker); or having an open sewer line regularly discharge into Mobile Bay, along with all of Trip Pittman and Tim Kant’s expensive BP anchors.