Future of Gulf State Park - Community Meetings

Gulf State Park Project ? The University of Alabama System | Gulf State Park Project

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Master Plan: Open House #2

Thursday, June 11, 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Gulf Shores Activity Center (260 Clubhouse Drive, Gulf Shores, AL 36542)
You’re invited to the Master Plan Open House No. 2 on June 11, 2015, from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, at the Gulf Shores Activity Center!
This event is a great way to share your thoughts with the Master Plan Team about the future of Gulf State Park.
Open House No. 2 will include interactive stations showing initial Park master plan concepts, ecological guidelines, and design principles. Your input is vitally important as we continue developing concepts and ideas for the Park. Please join us for this interactive and informative session! Also, please share this invitation with your community. We want input from everyone on the future of Gulf State Park.


You can also provide feedback by taking the MyPark Survey at www.mygulfstatepark.com.

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I was emailed an online survey about the park. Judging by how difficult it was to navigate, I doubt they received much input.

I took the survey to make 3 points about fishing the pier/park.

1. Shark problem needs to be resolved.
2. Commercial gill netting should NOT be allowed within the park gulf waters.
3. Parking at the pier is limited and should be included within the $9 fishing fee.
Swimmers should be discouraged from getting in the water around the pier and have to pay!

I must have missed some of the changes that have taken place since I was there in April . I was not aware that there was a fee to park at the pier ? Also perhaps it is due to the time of year that i am there .Spring and Fall ,but I have never noticed the pier parking lot completely filled to capacity .

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Originally Posted by usa

I must have missed some of the changes that have taken place since I was there in April . I was not aware that there was a fee to park at the pier ? Also perhaps it is due to the time of year that i am there .Spring and Fall ,but I have never noticed the pier parking lot completely filled to capacity .

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It has NOT changed (but they asked my opinion and I gave it ;-)
Most weekends in the late spring and all summer long you can hardly find a parking spot in the whole lot at the pier due to swimmers.
Then they have the audacity to wade out next to (or even under) the pier.

My recommendation was the park start charging a fee to park there and make that part refunded when you buy a daily fishing pass.

Thanks ,David ,that clears it up for me and it sounds like your recommendations may solve several issues .

People that pay to fish the peir should defiantly get priority parking. The people that get in the water near the peir obviously haven't viewed the beach from the peir,or noticed the BigRed flags that say no swimming. The surf is filled with sharks that bite anything that falls off the pier. I have seen sharks take Pelicans in one nip. The pier sharks aren't picky at all. I have seen them eat Walmart bags that blew from the peir. I am sure a splashing leg could easily be mistaken for a bag or pelican landing on the water. Personally I don't think a hungry shark would ever prefer an empty bag over a nice sun baked tourist leg. Swimmers should have to pay to park, but parking payment should be included within the nine dollar fishing fee. The only way I can think of enforcing this is by setting up a toll both at the curvy parking lot entrance? The beach is nicer near the hotels anyway. Why drive 2 miles away when you can walk out to the beach? The shark bait will stop coming if they have to pay for parking, this would greatly diminish the risk for a shark "incident". Parking at the peir on memorial weekend was a ridiculous. It was backed up to the red light and a lil into the dunes. I think it cost money to park at the pavilion, but I have never been charged once out of the 10,365 times I have been there??


The Sharks at the pier make fishing fun, but not when you are catching to eat. The rush of reeling fast enough to yank a trophy fish from a sharks thieving mouth is next to beatng Jeff Gordan in my book. Don't let your big mackerel dangle, or you will be missing the "tail end" of the fun. The sharks are a problem, and there isn't really anyway around it that I know of. I think if they were allowed to be caught that it might mess up people trying to catch real fish. Catching them only at night when the real fishing calms down would be better. Either way the sharks will probably continue to be a problem regardless of what decision is made over the next few years.


I live on the pier because I rarely have the luxury of a boat. My family and I visit gulf shores nearly every weekend from April to September. It is my favorite spot to saltwater fish since Katrina cut has been restored by the sand. I rarely have a bad time or go fishless on the pier. I think people that spend hundreds of dollars fishing, and most of their summer on the pier should play a part in the decisions made at the park regarding the pier. All the fish my family eats comes from the pier. I have years worth of fishing plans for the pier and I want it to stay decent. If I don't have the pier then I doubt I will come to the park at all.

I followed the link provided above by Pier# and took the survey. I also entered comments concerning the pier(parking. swimmers, sharks and net boats). The survey was a little difficult for me to navigate and enter comments but at least I was able to make comments and give them my two cents worth. Don't be fooled by the small space given for a comment at each icon that you place: you are able to enter much more information than it appears that you will be able to enter.

I just took the survey also. Comments where the same as y'alls

I have a question, and this is an honest, curiosity-based question. I don't live there and don't know how decisions are made or how data/input is considered. I know the topic of sharks can get heated, but as someone that lives almost a thousand miles away, I don't know squat about them. What I do know is this. There seems to be a lot of sharks around that pier (and perhaps more so than other piers from what I have read). You can even watch youtube videos of people trying like hell to get their fish landed as sharks are chasing them. Certainly not good for people trying to catch food as someone already pointed out. My real question is that if the sharks are clearly visible from the pier, and show decent aggression towards objects in the water, be it walmart bags or fish being reeled in, how do local officials deal with the swimmers in that area? I thought I saw someone say that there are red flags that limit/prohibit/warn swimmers in the area, but it doesn't sound like this is enforced or effective. Have there been incidents with sharks and people in the past? I ask out of curiosity, but also out of mild concern as the father of a 6 year old and 2 year old. We swim west of there (Fort Morgan). I've read a lot of posts about the need for the ability to fish sharks, or move the cleaning stations, and other suggestions, so that isn't what I'm asking about. I'm asking about how the city/state, whoever is making the rules up, views the situation, either as a result of direct observation, or solicited/unsolicited input, or other matters. Thanks in advance for any info.

"I'm asking about how the city/state, whoever is making the rules up, views the situation, either as a result of direct observation, or solicited/unsolicited input, or other matters. Thanks in advance for any info."
In my opinion they view it with complete indifference.

I would hope if a parking fee were ever initiated, that it would not only make the exception for those that pay the daily $9.00 fee, but those like myself that purchase the annual pass as well.

I could see the annual pass holders being given a window sticker/decal to cover them for the year. That way everywhere you drove you would be silently advertising for the park.

I found the survey too narrow. I tried to plant the idea of expanding the park to cover Perdido Pass for handicap fishing access.

The final Community Meeting: Open House No. 3 will showcase a draft master plan for Gulf State Park based on feedback received during the previous open houses and online survey.
Master Plan: Open House #3

Thursday, July 23, 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Gulf Shores Activity Center (260 Clubhouse Drive, Gulf Shores, AL 36542)


Link to results of the survey (compiled in late May): http://gulfstateparkproject.ua.edu/w...arkResults.pdf

You may not like what you read though, only 4% of the 2500 respondents mentioned fishing as their reason for visiting the Gulf State Park!
Of those however, most IDed the Gulf State Park Pier (or nearby beaches) as their primary fishing location. (page 26)

Why is that parking lot free when the other state park lots are pay to park? I might be getting lots confused but I'm pretty confidant the other parking areas were charging.

I have been staying at the four seasons for the past few falls and fish that pier. It also has plenty of sharks even though the water is much shallower than the state pier. With my limited walking ability and the option of leaving most of my tackle on the pier over night it is much easier for me to fish there. Last year we had a particularly heavy infestation of sharks in mid October and a weekend day had a lot of surfboarders close by. We warned them about the sharks swimming under them but most of them just ignored the warning. One of the sharks that stayed around for a few days was a very large hammerhead, probably close to 10 feet. I saw him follow a surfboard for about 40 yards one day.