At Thursday’s meeting of the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission, one company received approval to develop five different subdivisions—all near each other in eastern Baldwin County.

Belle Fountain Land Company, based in Gulf Shores, received preliminary plat approval for five subdivisions, all but one of which was under ten lots. All of the lot sizes would be over three acres. The final subdivision up for consideration, BFLC Forest Acres, is considered a “large lot” subdivision, and all of the lots would be 20 acres or more.

All of these subdivisions sit in Planning District 13, which is north of Interstate 10 and northeast of Robertsdale. Planning District 13 has not implemented zoning restrictions.

Though all of these subdivisions are small-scale, most are extensions of existing subdivisions in the area. However, because all of the subdivisions considered were under 50 lots, some of the studies normally required under Baldwin County’s Subdivision Regulations—namely the traffic study—were not required for these subdivisions.

However, one member of the commission, Michael Mullek, did note that the cumulative effect of all of the subdivisions could impact the traffic in the area, and asked if the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Department might require a traffic study in that case.