Fairhope bayfront and Fly Creek bulkhead planning

Get to know your waterfront

Fairhope counted 22,477 residents in 2020. Its limits run from about latitude 30.512 to 30.582 in 44 separate pieces, with unincorporated gaps between them. The shore is a bluff above Mobile Bay. The municipal pier, 1,448 feet long, was destroyed by Katrina in 2005 and rebuilt in 2006. Fly Creek, to the north, has a federal channel 6 feet deep and 80 feet wide.

TIGERweb Census 2020 layers (Incorporated Places / Census Designated Places), POP100 and HU100 fields · TIGERweb Census Current (2026) Legal and Statistical Entities, Incorporated Places layer (January 1, 2026 vintage), point-in-polygon queries · Community Parks and Trails · USACE National Channel Framework, ChannelReach layer (Mobile District, CESAM), channel area CESAM_FC_01_FYC

Who owns the land, and what the city's own wall teaches

Two questions come before any design. Who owns the dirt, and is the lot really in the city?

The Single Tax signature and the city line

The Single Tax Corporation owns about 4,500 acres in and around Fairhope, roughly a quarter of the city. Lessees own their house and improvements but lease the land. A building permit application needs the corporation's signature as landowner. The office is at 336 Fairhope Avenue, (251) 928-8162. Single Tax Corporation Add that step to the schedule for any wall, pier or lift.

Then settle the city line. Fairhope's polygon has 44 pieces, and grid sampling finds gaps along the Montrose shore. Census boundary layers Outside the city, Baldwin County permits the work. County permit jurisdiction

The zoning code defines a waterfront lot as any lot next to Mobile Bay, and exempts structures over state submerged land from front and side yard setbacks for accessory structures.

What the pier seawall shows

The city's own bay wall is the local case study. It is about 50 years old. Storms including Sally and Zeta weakened its anchoring hardware, sections shifted and water washed soil out from behind it. City of Fairhope The fix is part of an almost $10 million project, funded by RESTORE Act money. The contract went to Rolin Construction in April 2024, and crews were retrofitting the tiebacks on the precast wall's south side. City of Fairhope

Zeta damaged that wall in 2020. NHC Zeta report A survey team found 7 to 9 feet of inundation in northeast Mobile Bay from the Causeway south to the shores of Fairhope. NHC Zeta report FEMA's records for Sally include about $368,000 for Fairhope boat docks. FEMA Public Assistance

• Look for panels that have shifted or leaned since the last storm.
• Look for failed tiebacks, the buried rods or cables that hold the wall back.
• Look for sinkholes or voids behind the cap.

Older private walls fail the same way. See tiebacks and anchors and soil loss and drainage.

Beaches behind hard walls

Beaches south of the pier that showed in 1955 are now "strikingly absent," largely because of shoreline hardening. A sand beach survives north of it. Eastern Shore watershed plan The estuary program says vertical walls hurt habitat at their base and throw wave energy onto neighbors. Eastern Shore watershed plan

The data are from the estuary plan. Eastern Shore watershed plan A sloped rock or living-shoreline toe in front of an aging wall can protect both the wall and the beach. The plan also notes permitting hurdles for living shorelines, such as coastal property rights and rock on state submerged land. Eastern Shore watershed plan See the living shoreline guide.

Gullies, Fly Creek and the water coming down the bluff

Upland water matters as much as bay water on a bluff lot. Estimated sediment loads beat the natural erosion rate in every Eastern Shore basin. Tatumville Gully ran 5,581 tons per square mile a year and Rock Creek 4,644, against a natural rate of 64. Eastern Shore watershed plan

Fly Creek is classified for swimming and fishing, and the state listed it as impaired in 2018 for pathogens. MBNEP summary Fairhope Docks, on Fly Creek at 848 Sea Cliff Drive, is city-owned. It now allows boat lifts for slip holders and closes in hurricane watches. City of Fairhope The Fairhope Bayfront District is on the National Register, so ask the city whether your lot lies inside it. Eastern Shore watershed plan

Piers, lifts and the bay-front lot rules

A pier on a Fairhope waterfront lot is an accessory structure. The zoning code lets it sit in front of or beside the house, at least 10 feet away. Zoning Ordinance 1253 The state and the Corps set the rest.

• ADEM requires pilings that let tides flow, with platforms at the waterward end and no habitable space. ADEM pier rule
• The Corps pier permit allows a terminal structure up to 3,000 square feet and a length of no more than a quarter of the waterway's width. Nothing may sit within 100 feet of a federal channel, unless waived. Corps pier permit limits
• State Lands lets a dock serving a single home use a Consent of Use when the footprint stays under 5,000 square feet. State Lands rule

That 100-foot channel rule matters on Fly Creek, which has a federal channel. See docks and boat lifts.

Public land, ramps and the water you share

The city became caretaker of the beachfront park, the bluff park lands and the pier in the 1930s, all gifts of the Single Tax Colony. City of Fairhope Ramps sit at 1 Pier Avenue, Magnolia Beach Park and North Beach Park, and the Pier Street ramp has two lanes and three courtesy docks. City of Fairhope

Fly Creek's tide range is 1.7 feet at the NOAA station, the widest on this shore. NOAA tide stations Jubilees can hit the whole shore from Daphne to Mullet Point, about 15 miles, or only a few hundred feet of beach. City of Fairhope Neighbors will be at the waterline on those mornings, so keep the work site tidy.

The city is also building the 108-acre Flying Creek Nature Preserve between Veterans Boulevard and the creek, with a kayak launch planned in phase 2. City of Fairhope

What could the work cost?

Price the Single Tax lease step and the survey separately from the wall. City fees listed in the schedule include $100 for a residential Board of Adjustment request and $50 for a zoning verification letter. Ask bidders to quote tieback replacement apart from panel repair. See costs per foot.

Orange Beach permit values are what applicants declared for fee purposes, not invoices. Public bids carry bonding and county terms. Prices for steel, concrete, composite and aluminum come from outside Alabama and are labeled with their geography.

Find the relevant permits and records

Prepare the questions for the responsible office.

A Fairhope pre-bid checklist

Work through four steps in order. The first two cost nothing.

1. Find out if the lot is a Single Tax lease

   Call the corporation and ask whether the parcel is a leasehold. If so, schedule the signature early.

   F.A.Q.s

2. Check the parcel against city limits

   Use the county viewer's City Limits layer. Gaps in the city's patchwork send some bayfront lots to the county.

   Permitting FAQs | Baldwin County Building Department · TIGERweb Census Current (2026) Legal and Statistical Entities, Incorporated Places layer (January 1, 2026 vintage), point-in-polygon queries

3. Ask the city for a zoning verification

   The city charges $50 for a zoning verification letter. Ask it to confirm the zoning and how the waterfront-lot setback exemption applies to your site.

   City of Fairhope Ordinance No. 1763 (Planning and Zoning user fees) · City of Fairhope Zoning Ordinance No. 1253, amended June 3, 2025

4. Inspect the wall after every storm

   Photograph panel lines, the cap and the ground behind it, then compare with last year's photos before asking for bids.

   Working Waterfront

Keep planning

Nearby waterfront guides

Point Clear, Battles Wharf & Mullet Point, Daphne & Montrose, Weeks Bay, Fish River & Marlow

View the local guide directory.