Baldwin County · issues
Civic issues
Topics getting the most attention in Baldwin County public meetings, ranked by how frequently they come up.
Escambia County hurricane debris in Baldwin landfills
Baldwin will take up to 500,000 cubic yards of Florida hurricane construction debris through December, spread across three landfills, at a special handling rate. One commissioner worried about using up local landfill space.
Floodplain Ordinance Amendment
A small but important fix: mobile homes in mapped flood zones must now build to the actual flood elevation plus one foot, instead of just three feet above ground. This restores the county's CRS flood-insurance discount credit.
PFAS contamination near Navy airfield
A Harden Lane resident said the Navy tested everyone's water, found PFAS from firefighting foam at the airfield, and residents now use Culligan filters — plus complaints about snakes and coyotes from unkempt Navy land.
Magnolia Springs coordination on Weeks Bay watershed development
Five new rainfall and river-elevation monitoring stations are in place on the Magnolia and Styx Rivers, funded by Mobile Bay NEP, plus a new stormwater design and review tool with training set for February 12.
Heritage oak tree protection
Residents say a 300-400-year-old oak near the McCarty Springs site could be killed by drainage cuts or driveway construction. The applicant's surveyor said there are no plans to remove it, but the county has no authority to protect it in an unzoned area.
Flooding and stormwater around Saoyah/Sahoy wetlands
Saoyah property owners documented water flowing from wetlands across their lots and warned that raising the new retention pond's elevation could flood their homes. The county says regional stormwater ponds and Pleasant Road drainage projects are in the works.
Preserving public water access to Mobile Bay
The commission denied a request to vacate a 6.7-foot unopened right-of-way to Mobile Bay, keeping it as public access under county policy — even though it's unmarked and unmaintained. Commissioner Gruber raised the possibility of maintaining such accesses in the future.
Odor complaints from Loxley metal recycling facility
Commissioner Fletcher flagged a persistent unpleasant smell along the road near the light-industrial metal recycling operation in Loxley. Staff noted the facility operates under a conditional use permit with landscape buffers that are still maturing.
Robertsdale CHaRM recycling facility
The county leased about an acre behind the Central Annex to the Solid Waste Disposal Authority for $1 a year for a center for hard-to-recycle materials — an upgrade over the current unattended recycling dumpsters.