An $87 million state-funded bridge project across the Intracoastal Waterway connecting the Foley Beach Express to Alabama's beach cities is an "unnecessary waste of taxpayer funds" and violates past agreements.
That's according to a strongly worded court filing that is setting up a rare high-profile condemnation case in coastal Alabama: The private Baldwin County Bridge Company - a subsidiary of American Roads LLC - is duking it out with the Alabama Department of Transportation about the Foley Beach Express toll bridge.
The showdown could have bigger implications for the future of bridges and roads into and out of Alabama's hottest tourism destination. It also might give pause to the popular talk statewide about establishing public-private partnerships to undertake expensive infrastructure projects.
"We have to be able to move traffic., we've got to be able to evacuate and we have to be able to grow," said Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, who is watching the litigation closely but is not a party to it. "One bridge with a toll does not help us do that."
Presently, only two bridges lead visitors into Gulf Shores and Orange Beach - the Foley Beach Express toll bridge adjacent to The Wharf entertainment complex in Orange Beach and the Alabama 59 bridge in Gulf Shores.
Two new bridges are in the planning stages: The bridge sought by ALDOT, to be located about two miles west of the existing Foley Beach Express toll bridge, and a bridge that would be solely a city of Orange Beach endeavor, costing an estimated $50 million and located near Doc's Seafood.
A Facebook group calling itself "Bridge2Nowhere" has opposed the ALDOT project since it was conceived in 2015, and believes the state is pressuring locals to go along with it in order to "bankrupt" the Baldwin County Bridge Company.
The new court filing was submitted by the company on Monday to Baldwin County Probate Court. It follows the state's February launch of condemnation proceedings to obtain property owned by the company for its own bridge. A hearing on the condemnation case is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, April 12, in Fairhope.
Low-ball estimates
According to the new filing, ALDOT has failed to provide traffic studies to substantiate the need for its project, which would involve a $30 million bridge and $57 million worth of connecting roadways.
The court filing cites past statements from Kennon and ALDOT Director John Cooper that indicated they doubted the need for a bridge west of the Foley Beach Express Bridge.
The filing claims that Cooper has admitted that he intended to "undo" past deals with Baldwin Bridge Company that allowed the toll bridge to open in 2000. The filing maintains that, last year, Cooper demanded concessions from the company that would have resulted in it relinquishing the bridge "at virtually no cost" to Orange Beach. The filing says that his demands "effectively" shut down negotiations with the company.
Kennon, in an interview with AL.com, offered a different account of events. He said it's the bridge company that hasn't been willing to renegotiate the terms of past deals.
The bridge company's filing also accuses the state of low-balling the value of the company property that it wishes to obtain for its own bridge. That property, according to the filing, is situated near the Foley Beach Express and Baldwin County Road 8.
Moreover, the bridge company says ALDOT seeks that tract so that drivers can divert off the Beach Express and away from the toll bridge, instead traveling the state's new bridge.
ALDOT's initial condemnation case offered to pay $9,750 to purchase the property, according to the filing. "ALDOT's offer of $9,750 is woefully inadequate because it does not take into account the difference to the fair market value of BCBC's remaining property - which includes the BEX Bridge and tolls derived from them - before and after the taking," the filing states.
Tony Harris, spokesman with ALDOT, said, "Since this has become a contested legal proceeding, ALDOT will respond appropriately through legal channels and will not be commenting further at this time."
Past agreements
In 1999, the bridge company entered multiple agreements with the Baldwin County Commission and the city of Foley.
The agreements came into being, the new court filing says, because there were few public resources available to build a bridge at a time when tourism was beginning to soar in coastal Alabama.
A Tri-Party Agreement, which the new filing indicates was to remain in force until 2098, made clear that the company held "perpetual right to collect tolls and determine toll fares for the bridge."
The toll bridge, located directly west of The Wharf entertainment venue, opened in June 2000, and allowed motorists to crisscross from the beach cities of Orange Beach and Gulf Shores to the Foley Beach Express.
In 2004, the city of Orange Beach struck an agreement with the company that granted the city the right to receive "a portion of the tolls" through 2063, as well as gave the city an option to purchase the bridge in 15 years at "a price equal to ten times the highest annual revenue produced by the toll charges for any of the last three years" preceding 2033.
In addition, the deal called for the bridge company to "increase the size of the bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway" if traffic volumes exceeded "certain thresholds." Those thresholds have not been met, according the new filing.
In the AL.com interview, Kennon, who was elected mayor in 2008, indicated that the city wouldn't be buying the bridge under the terms of the 2004 deal. "By 2033, it could be a $100 million bridge. Why would Orange Beach buy the toll bridge and keep the tolls on it?" he said.
Meanwhile, he talked readily about Orange Beach's own project for a new bridge - the "Wolf Bay Bridge" - which is unrelated to the Baldwin County Bridge Company's battle with ALDOT.
He said the city's bridge is an "economic development" project that will connect Alabama 181 and 160 near Dock's restaurant to Sapling Point. "We want to build it to incorporate 10,000 acres to the north of Orange Beach," said Kennon. "It will have huge benefits for everyone for us to do that."