Group keeps eye on Bayou development

Consider these items from Press-Register news archives:

March 2007: RBC Centura Bank buys 11 AmSouth Bank offices from Regions Bank, including the branch on South Wintzell Street in Bayou La Batre, for $1.59 million.

December 2006: More than 18 acres on Padgett Switch Road in Bayou La Batre are purchased for just under $1 million by Guntersville, Ala., developers who plan residential construction.

June 2006: Ficarino Properties acquires a former seafood handling facility at 14090 Shell Belt Road in Bayou La Batre for $650,000 from Gulf City Seafood Inc.

Or this, from a December 2006 story that began, "The tide of the real estate market here has rushed out as quickly as it rolled in last year, real estate agents and property owners say. But all said they expect investors -- and their cash -- to roll into town again eventually."

That December item chronicled the experience of Bayou residents Allen and Mary LaForce, who, witnessing the run-up in real estate values before Hurricane Katrina, put their home and 1.5 acres on the market for $350,000. In Katrina's wake, their home was leveled, and their asking price had fallen to $240,000. Although no one was buying, the couple said they still believed the Bayou market would rebound. "This is the last frontier on the Alabama coast that development hasn't touched -- yet," Allen LaForce was quoted as saying. "It'll come here eventually, and we can wait."

The "it" that will eventually come -- new coastal development, accompanied by rising prices -- could do a lot of good, but has also caused some concern. Given that, a group of 39 representatives of "water-dependent businesses" from Orange Beach to Bayou La Batre has started a campaign to raise awareness about the people who could get squeezed out as development pressures rise.

"We're working to try to keep waterfront access -- not just industry-related access, but the peripheral businesses like ice houses, boat builders, bait shops and net builders," said Jody Thompson, an extension agent at the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, who is a facilitator for the Alabama Working Waterfront Coalition.

In Mobile County alone, the coalition cites:

-- $36 million as the dockside value of seafood landings.

-- $135 million worth of seafood products processed annually.

-- 240 working shrimp boats.

-- 1,000 other commercial fishing licenses.

-- Eight shipyards collectively generating revenue of $100 million a year and the presence of 14 other businesses, including net makers, fuelers and general suppliers. The new coalition is aided by a $90,000 grant from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, an education and advocacy effort of Auburn and Mississippi State universities.

The coalition plans to map water-dependent businesses in Mobile County, a process that will take through year's end to finish, Thompson said. The resulting data will set a baseline from which change can be monitored and provide a tool for community education efforts.

Thompson said coalition members include not only folks who make their living on the water, but also tourism officials and even Realtors. "To really be an effective group, you have to reach out to what may be adversarial positions," she said.

The coalition is "a real stakeholder, grassroots effort" to preserve working waterfront, she said, while also dealing with "the realities of coastal development."

Readers seeking more information about the coalition may contact Thompson at 438-5690.

(Business Editor K.A. Turner can be reached at the Press-Register, P.O. Box 2488, Mobile, AL 36652-2488, by calling 219-5644 or e-mailing kturner@press-register.com)