THE MOBILE PENINSULA CORRIDOR MASTER PLAN January 2017 Image Credit: Sam St. John 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................4 › The Peninsula of Mobile . 4 › Purpose of the Plan . 4 › Relationship to Other Planning Efforts . 5 › Glossary . 6 › Plan Formation . 8 PLAN PRINCIPLES .....................................................................................................9 PLAN CONCEPT ........................................................................................................10 › Map for Mobile: Development Framework . 10 › Areas . 12 › Corridor . 12 › Development Centers . 12 › Gateways . 12 › Miracle Mile . 14 PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS .....................................................................................15 › Northern Gateway . 16 › Old Military Development Center . 18 › Rosedale Development Center . 20 › Gulf Dale Development Center . 22 › Brill/Club House Development Center . .25 › Gill Development Center . 29 › Southern Gateway . .. 32 IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES ...............................................................................34 › Action Plan . 34 › Bicycle Amenities . 37 › Dauphin Island Parkway Road Diet . 38 › Potential Case Study Projects . 40 APPENDIX - EXISTING CONDITIONS ........................................................................42 › Land Use . 42 › Mobility . 44 › Community Infrastructure . 46 › Housing . 48 APPENDIX - COMMUNITY INPUT ..............................................................................50 › Assets and Opportunities . 50 › Challenges and Issues . 51 TABLE OF CONTENTS | 3 INTRODUCTION THE PENINSULA OF MOBILE the location including birding trails, Alabama Scenic Byway Coastal Connection, the Coastal The Peninsula of Mobile is a 501 (c) (3) Blueway, America’s Great Loop, the Alabama non-profit, community-based organization Scenic River Trail, and other state tourism founded in the Fall of 2013 whose mission initiatives . is to: Support the development of a clean and vibrant community while working to The Plan addresses past and current issues sustain the sensitive environment that is the as a guide for the implementation of Low Peninsula. The organization is composed of Impact Development and (re)development a Board of Directors whom all have close ties opportunities that celebrate the Peninsula’s to the Peninsula as well as an Advisory Board cultural and natural character while creating of others from the greater community . The a sustainable coastal community . The Plan Executive Director leads and oversees the day- includes recommendations to be considered to-day needs of the organization. as part of Map for Mobile, the Dog River and Garrows Bend Watershed Management Plans, The organization’s name developed from the the Comprehensive Conservation Management unique physical location of the community on Plan, and other significant planning efforts a peninsula created by Dog River and Mobile being implemented through collaboration and Bay. The Peninsula is characterized by low land partnerships . elevation composed of wetlands, creeks, and an extensive floodplain, with economically diverse residential neighborhoods, and commercial centers . The Peninsula is also bisected by Dauphin Island Parkway, a 32-mile road that historically connected the City of Mobile to Dauphin Island . Surrounding the Peninsula are the waters of Dog River and Mobile Bay, along with many creeks, streams, tidal wetlands, marshes and estuarine environments that are Mobile’s coastal front door. PURPOSE OF THE PLAN The Mobile Peninsula Corridor Master Plan focuses on the Dauphin Island Parkway corridor between Interstate-10 and the Dog River Bridge . This segment of road, approximately 5.75 miles, serves as the heart of the Peninsula where daily activity and commerce takes place . This Plan also seeks to identify opportunities for (re) development and improvements to integrate Low Impact Development techniques resulting in improved aesthetics, stormwater reduction, a reduction in flooding, and an increased awareness of the unique environmental location . There are many passive recreational (Above) Dauphin Island Parkway, a 32-mile road efforts around the Peninsula that benefit from that historically connected the City of Mobile to Dauphin Island. 4 RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER Management Plan will help to increase PLANNING EFFORTS awareness and provide additional funding avenues . More information on the Dog River Throughout the history of the Peninsula, several and Garrows Bend Watershed Management different planning efforts have taken place Plans can be found on the project website: citywide on a variety of topics or with different http://www . makingwatershedswork .org/ . focuses . During the development of the Mobile Peninsula Corridor Master Plan, other planning In partnership with the City of Mobile, the efforts have either been initiated or completed . Peninsula of Mobile obtained assistance from We have made every effort to integrate the EPA’s Building Blocks for Sustainable information from those other plans . As this and Communities program and developed the other plans are implemented, a regular review Flood Resilience for Riverine and Coastal of information is recommended and this Plan Communities memorandum . The program updated on an as-needed basis . outlines many of the strengths, challenges and opportunities that currently face the community An important relationship for the Mobile and establishes a series of steps for better Peninsula Corridor Master Plan is it’s foundation coordination and integrated implementation . in Map for Mobile, the City’s Comprehensive Plan adopted by the Planning Commission in The Comprehensive Conservation Management November 2015. The Plan serves as the City’s Plan 2013-2018 (CCMP) is a strategic plan of guide for long-term preservation, revitalization the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program for and growth to help the City achieve the goals the Mobile Bay Watershed. The Plan, initiated and aspirations identified by citizens during in 2011, addressed five major issues in the the planning process . The Mobile Peninsula watershed: water quality, living resources, Corridor Master Plan seeks to build upon habitat management, human uses, and those principles, goals and policies in Map education and public involvement; and six for Mobile and provide additional details and values: access, beaches and shorelines, fish, recommendations at the corridor level . More heritage/culture, resiliency, and water quality. information on Map for Mobile, and a copy of The Mobile Peninsula Corridor Master Plan ties the Plan, can be found on the project website: back into the CCMP in similar manners as other http://www .mapformobile .org/ . planning efforts to reinforce the values and actions of the plan efforts . Considering the unique location of the Peninsula at the mouth of the Dog River and GARROWS BEND bordering Garrows Bend, the Dog River and Garrows Bend Watershed Management Plans are a significant planning effort underway that will have a tremendous impact on the community . The Watershed Management Plans DOG RIVER develop a strategy and a work plan for achieving resource goals that provides assessment and management information for the watershed . In the case of the Dog River and Garrows Bend Watersheds that includes nearly 100 square miles that reaches as far north as Old Shell Road and west as far as the Airport and beyond Schillinger Road . The close integration (Above) The Peninsula is part of two watersheds: of the Mobile Peninsula Corridor Master the Garrows Bend Watershed (green) and the Plan recommendations into the Watershed Dog River Watershed (orange). INTRODUCTION | 5 GLOSSARY Areas – Unique locations within a community that have an identity created by location, type of buildings or purpose . Each area has unique relationships with the surrounding areas, the corridor, development centers and gateways. Bio-retention – A vegetated depression, or basin, that provides treatment and retention to stormwater . Bio-retention can occur as rain gardens or planter boxes . They are similar to Bioswales, however they do not move water credit: midtownatl.com between locations and are typically self- contained . (Above) This linear bioswale is located between the street curb and sidewalk. It is designed to Bioswale – A vegetated channel that provides collect, treat and filter stormwater from the treatment and retention to move stormwater street. from one place to another. Bioswales slow, infiltrate and filter stormwater flows. As linear Traditional Neighborhood features, they are particularly well suited to being placed along streets and parking lots . Brownfield - A former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination . These properties could have hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants present . Conservation Subdivisions/Residential – A development pattern that promotes clustered structures in order to reduce infrastructure needs and conserve greenspace as compared Conservation Neighborhood to traditional residential development . Corridor – A corridor is the central place people use to move throughout the community . This includes not only the roadway in which automobiles travel, but also transit, sidewalks and trails that accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. For the purpose of this Plan, the corridor refers to Dauphin Island Parkway on the Peninsula, from the I-10