Mobile City Council Meeting Summary (December 2, 2025)
Mobile City Council Meeting Summary (December 2, 2025)
The Mobile City Council convened on December 2, 2025, for a pre-meeting and public hearing session focused on zoning amendments, conditional use permits, and various administrative resolutions. The meeting featured discussions on fee waivers for the Airbus/MAA redevelopment project, clarifications on medical supply contracts, and updates to the Downtown Development District code. The session concluded with a roll-call vote to enter executive session regarding anticipated litigation.
Consent Calendar
- Purchase Orders and Contracts: Approved purchase orders for emergency equipment (engine replacement for fire pumper), street light luminaries, and Winchester ammunition. Authorized contracts for the South Alabama Home Building Academy, boundary medical gloves (as an item-based bid not to exceed $3 million), and Harmon Recreation Center re-roofing.
- Licenses and Easements: Recommended approval for a retail beer and wine off-premises license for Murphy USA. Accepted a temporary construction easement for drainage repairs on Tolman's Spring Branch.
- Vacation of Rights of Way: Item 471471 (vacation of rights of way in MAA subdivision) was held over pending a resolution amendment regarding the vacation fee waiver request.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Mary Pettit: Expressed concern that insufficient measures are being taken to protect citizens from dangerous dogs and requested the presence of animal control administration.
- Doug (Airbus/MAA Representative): Stated that MAA owns the 40-acre lot while Airbus leases it for $9 million. Argued that waiving the $470,000 right-of-way vacation fee is necessary due to budget constraints, noting that the project has already incurred $357,000 in fees. Emphasized that the project represents a $250-$300 million investment with an existing $5 million economic impact and will generate personal property taxes, though the land itself remains non-taxable.
- Councilwoman Ingram: Expressed desire to slow down the rezoning process (64-058) to ensure community input. Stated she would meet with downtown business owners and residents to verify that stakeholders have had a full opportunity to provide input before the ordinance moves forward.
- Councilmember Penn: Asked for clarification on the procedure for item-based bids and the necessity of a price cap on the medical glove contract. Also requested that the red-line changes for the Downtown Development District amendment be provided via a reference document, as a formal red-line was not available due to the document's reformatting.
Discussion Items
- Airbus/MAA Fee Waiver (471471): Council discussed the request to waive the vacation fee for the MAA subdivision. Councilmember Reynolds noted that waiving fees makes sense if it brings a blighted property back to use for the taxpayer's benefit, referencing the significant economic potential of the Airbus project. Councilmember Penn questioned procedural correctness and timeline, noting previous delays. The item was not voted on due to the need for a revised resolution amendment regarding the fee structure.
- Medical Glove Contract (21-1502): Administration clarified that the $3 million 'not to exceed' figure was a placeholder for an item-based bid on a unit-price basis, not a fixed purchase amount. Councilmember Penn and others noted that while the amount does not require amendment, clarity was needed to prevent public misunderstanding; an amendment to explicitly state 'item-based bid for cases of gloves' was discussed to add transparency.
- Downtown Development District Amendment (64-058): Councilmember Ingram inquired about the 'no citizen testimony' claim and requested a red-line comparison. Staff explained that a formal red-line was impractical due to significant graphical reformatting but offered a reference document listing specific edits and stakeholder engagement history (including Downtown Mobile Alliance and Government Street Collaborative). Staff confirmed only one substantive building code conflict (transparency requirements) existed.
- DBE Subcontractor Documentation: Councilmember Reynolds requested documentation regarding the 15% DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) subcontractor requirement for the roofing contract (21-1503), specifically explaining the absence of the 15% threshold and efforts to solicit these businesses. Staff agreed to provide the documentation before the next meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Executive Session: The Council voted unanimously (all present members: Small, Gregory, Penn, Ingram, Reynolds, Fleming, Woods) to convene an executive session for anticipated litigation involving the city, following a declaration by City Attorney Ricardo Woods. The meeting will reconvene at 10:30 AM.
- Procedural Directives:
- A reference document summarizing changes to the Downtown Development District code is to be provided to Councilmember Ingram.
- The City Attorney was asked to add the Mayor's name as the sponsor for Ordinance 64-058 pending clerical correction.
- The Agenda Summary for the Medical Glove contract was instructed to include clarifying language stating the bid is 'item-based.'
- Administrative Updates: The Council announced the passing of Ann Bedsole and planned a moment of silence for the regular meeting. The Council also moved the schedule of a noise ordinance appeal decision to 10:00 AM.
- Holdover Items: Ordinance 21-1501 (Alabama Construction Trade Academy Fund Fees) was tabled for 6-8 months. Resolution 471471 (Airbus rights of way) is held pending a resolution amendment.
Meeting Transcript
Everybody on the second day of December, if you look around the room, uh we already started celebrating Christmas with our green. That's we won't wear our red. So if y'all want to join us on next week, you may. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not in the hands of our capable city clerk, Ms. Lisa Carroll. This is the pre-meeting of the Mobile City Council Tuesday, December the 2nd. We have appeals. We have requests for wave of the noise ordinance on December the 4th from 5:30 p.m. until 7 30 p.m. on downtown or loop. January 17th from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. on Myrtlewood Lane. Any issues, uh Councilman Fleming or Gregory. Uh no. Okay. Public hearing today. It's a public hearing to consider an ordinance to amend appendix A, Downtown Development District, the City of Mobile Unified Development Code, Chapter 64, the Mobile City Code. Public hearing to consider the proposed rezoning of property located at 2243, 2245, 2345, and 2509 Hallsmill Road from B3 to B5. Public hearing to consider the proposed conditional use permit for property located at 2574, 2664 Sally Road to allow expansion of a religious facility in an R1. Presentation of petitions and other communications to the council. Mary Pettit uh will express her concerns that enough isn't being done to protect citizens from dangerous dogs. To the administration, will we have someone from animal control here present? Okay, all right, thank you. Ordinance is held over 11056, amend chapter 11, Article 3, Section 11 of the City Code to include subsection title, Alabama Construction Trade Academy Fund Fees. Mr. President. As we've discussed in previous meetings, uh we'll table this uh for approximately six months. We'll just go ahead and table this completely, but in six to eight months time, we should expect uh a similar ordinance to come on our agenda so we can revise our uh our uh permit fees and we can forward some of that to the home builders, and then there is this later performance contract to temporarily fund the training academy. All right. Resolution is held over 471471. Consider vacation of all rights of way located within lot one of MAACDC subdivision 471472 is considering a vacation fee as a condition of the vacation of the rights of way. Mr. Anderson. Good morning. Uh here again Airbus. MAA is the uh owner of this. Thank you. And um of this lot one 40 acres that they lease uh MAA is the owner, Airbus has leased the 40 acres, paid 9 million dollars just for a long-term lease. They don't even own the land. Um several reasons we're asking for a waiver. Uh I think the final number was 470,000. Um at a dollar 56 a square foot. When Airbus first came to Mobile, there was an agreement that certain fees would be waived. Uh these don't come under that agreement from understanding because it's not on the Brooklyn main campus. It's not on MAA's main campus. This is outside. Um we've already paid 357,000 dollars to the city in fees for the demolition and other permits we've received uh for this project. Uh adding on this fee would mean we've got another 800, a total of 800,000 in fees before we even break ground.
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