Montrose residents prepare for fight against changes to historic neighborhood

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WPMI) — Neighbors living in the Montrose area along the Eastern Shore are preparing for battle, fighting against changes in their historic neighborhood.

The debate is centered around 3rd Street in Montrose, a street that’s about 10 feet wide. People want to keep it that way and there's a lot of reasons why.

"We moved here two years ago and the reason we bought in historic Montrose was the established neighborhood feel of the area," said homeowner Frank Barlow. Barlow and many of his neighbors know the growth is coming.

Surrounded by history, with federal and state markers to prove it, the people who live here are right in the middle of a powder keg consisting of planned subdivisions and roads that could open up to busy US-98 traffic.

"I don’t think we should take out the green space of a historic place to do it," said Barlow.

The green space is 3rd Street. Some of it is narrowly paved, but most of it is now a walking trail.

The Baldwin County Commission is scheduled to vote on the widening and clearing of 3rd Street Tuesday.

The fear is that land surrounding historic Montrose, already zoned residential, will be developed into high density subdivisions.

"It's not that we're against them selling property or developing the property. It’s just how you go about it and what do you do with the property," said Linda McCullough who lives on Taylor Street - one of the few dead end streets that could be opened to busy traffic.

The people who live here say that keeping the buffer zone the existing green area is critical.

"And to be an inclusive neighborhood we could have walk paths that connect to our roads so people can walk their dogs and have access, but they just wouldn’t have vehicle access," said Barlow.

A change is coming and folks here know it. The hope is that the change doesn’t rewrite history.