BAYOU LA BATRE -- A 7.4-acre slice of land at the juncture of this community's bayou and the Mississippi Sound, waterfront property that many have said holds the key to this seafood town's future, is up for sale.

Asking price: $8 million.

Two years ago, Greenville developer Tim James had envisioned a condo development on the city docks property that would have included the 7.4 acres.

Those plans were made despite decades of quarreling between the city and the Parrish family over two significant issues: the location of the property's northern border and whether the city can use eminent domain to acquire the Parrishes' land.

Since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, city officials dropped plans with James in favor of pursuing an eco-tourism hub at the docks site, with the city-owned property leased to canoe rental companies, outfitting stores and the like.

But in April, Mobile Circuit Judge Rick Stout ruled in favor of the Parrish family -- giving the family clear title to the same property the City Council called Bayou La Batre's in the fall of 2000. In that year, the city used a state grant to build several pavilions, cut back the weeds and call it the city's own Lightning Point Park.

Hurricane Katrina left only one pavilion standing.

This fall, after Stout's ruling, a "for sale" sign appeared on the site.

The property has no road or utility access without obtaining an easement through the city's docks property.

"We want to maximize our return on investment," said Pete Rickard, the Parrish family member representing the Parrishes in the dispute. "As you know, we engaged in a long and unnecessary legal dispute with the city."

His uncle purchased the property in the 1960s, with plans to develop a hotel and marina there, but he was soon in an argument with city officials about the property's boundary, said Rickard, a Birmingham resident.

Sid Orrell of Polysurveying Inc., the city's engineering contractor, said the property's northern boundary is determined first by locating the center line of Bromberg Bay, a natural estuary south of today's city docks, which was later filled in.

The focus of the dispute was a survey taken in 1968, which established Bromberg Bay's center line. The Parrish family insisted the survey placed the line about 200 feet too far south. The city maintained the survey's accuracy.

Mayor Stan Wright said he doesn't dispute Stout's ruling, but insisted that the Parrish family's property must become the city's one way or another. The waterfront property lies south of the city-owned docks, land Wright and others have said is central to the city's future.

Wright said the Parrish land is rapidly eroding.

Wright insisted that the city has the responsibility to protect its docks land by purchasing the Parrish property or acquiring it through eminent domain proceedings. Once the city owns the land, it will build sea walls along the shore, Wright said.

City officials tried to take the Parrish property before. In 1969, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the city could not take the Parrish property because it did not lie within city limits. Alabama law allows municipalities to invoke eminent domain only within their own corporate limits.

Wright said the land has since been annexed.

Rickard disagreed. His family would never have made the request that is usually necessary for annexation, Rickard said.

But, city officials said last week, a state law passed by the Legislature in 1994 placed the property in the Bayou's city limits and eliminated the need for the owner's approval.

The legislation pulled a large swath of coastal land and waters into the Bayou La Batre city limits and exempted oil and gas companies in the area from city taxes or regulation.

Rickard said he was not aware of the law.

In eminent domain proceedings, the government entity must show that it engaged in good-faith negotiations to purchase the property, but that no agreement was reached. The government must also demonstrate that the taking of the property is for a public use. The property owner is given the opportunity to respond to the government's claims. If the government is successful in its petition, proceedings are held to establish the fair market value of the property.

Rickard said no city official has contacted him to discuss buying the land.

"The issue from the beginning has been the city's unwillingness to pay a fair price," Rickard said. "It would have been much better for everyone if the city had offered a fair price to begin with."

In April 2005, James declared he was putting together a $200 million project to transform Bayou La Batre, Alabama's hard-working "seafood capital," into a French Coast village with walkways connecting shops along the working bayou.

He began negotiations with the city to buy the city docks property. James called this the anchor of his project, where he would build a high-rise condominium complex. After Katrina, he said rising construction costs and insurance rates halted those plans.

Last year, an 11-member panel from the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute visited the Bayou for one week in September. The Urban Land Institute is a 30,000-member, nonprofit research and education organization focused on improving land use.

The panel recommended that the city not sell Lightning Point to James. Calling the site the city's best waterfront property, the panel suggested developing the land in a way that would optimize public access.

A group of Bayou La Batre leaders will travel to Florida today to tour two Gulf Coast cities as examples of revamped seafood villages.

But one key Bayou La Batre official will be staying home: Mayor Stan Wright.

Organizers said the two-day trip to Carrabelle, Fla., and Apalachicola, Fla., will be a chance for Bayou La Batre leaders to explore how other Gulf Coast communities redeveloped and attracted tourists. Bayou La Batre, historically dependent on the seafood industry, faces questions about how to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina's destruction two years ago.

Wright said Tuesday that he will decline going to Florida out of support for the older seafood and shipbuilding industries, whose leaders could perceive the trip as a move to replace them with condos and retail shops.

"Right now, we're surviving," Wright said from his oyster shop. "We're not Carrabelle and maybe we don't want to be Carrabelle. ... If we don't support what we have and some of these people want to leave, then how is the city itself going to exist?"

Officials in Apalachicola and Carrabelle, part of Florida's "Forgotten Coast" on the Panhandle, have said they have attracted tourists by emphasizing their communities' history and natural landscape as alternatives to high-rise beach resorts such as Destin, Fla.

Bud Robertson, Bayou La Batre Area Chamber of Commerce board member who helped organize the trip, said members of the City Council, Planning Board and chamber will be attending the tours.

"The Bayou is sort of at a turning point," Robertson said. "I don't think it hurts at all ... to see what some other people have done, whether you like it or not. Sooner or later, we need to develop a vision for the Bayou. ... What do we want to be 15 to 20 years from now? Are we still going to be a seafood town? Are we still going to be a boat-building town? Is there any room for diversity?"

The city and Alabama Power Co. -- where Robertson works as business office manager -- are splitting the $4,000 trip expenses, Robertson said.

Questions over how to develop the town and strengthen the local economy have confronted Bayou La Batre for years, further intensified by the need to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina wiped out homes and other buildings.

A plan by the Urban Land Institute in 2006 recommended that the city develop its waterfront property into an eco-tourism hub with kayaking and canoeing to the nearby Grand Bay wilderness preserve, among other suggestions.

Councilwoman Debi Downey said the plan illustrates how the seafood industry and the tourism industry could work together.

"That is why this trip was formed, so that we can go look at a working waterfront where the two have merged," Downey said.

Rising fuel prices and economic pressures from foreign seafood imports have put a strain on the seafood industry nationwide, Downey said, and "our city needs to look at something else to bring in revenue and I see that tourism is a good thing."

Brett Dungan, president of Master Marine Inc. shipbuilders in Bayou La Batre, said the city needs a comprehensive zoning plan to protect the waterfront businesses and any new industries.

"I would welcome the mayor and council in traveling to other areas that have had to grapple with these waterfront issues," Dungan said. "It's more complicated than to characterize this as a 'condo vs. no condo' issue."

Bayou La Batre officials will tour Carrabelle today and Apalachicola on Thursday.