A historic marker faces Spring Hill Avenue for the Sand Town community in Mobile, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

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Sand Town is a small community in west Mobile with a rich history few people know about.

The history is one that residents fear could be in jeopardy under a new zoning document approved by Mobile city officials on Tuesday.

“I’ve been through segregation and all of it and I have never been as afraid as I am now,” said 83-year-old Mary Frances Craig, a lifelong resident of the community. “Why am I afraid? Because of the attempts to destroy our neighborhood.”

Some city officials, who approved the zoning document called the Unified Development Code (UDC), say the mostly Black residents in Sand Town are being misinformed and that there are no intentions of gentrifying the neighborhood by removing houses – and residents - and replacing them with trendy bars, coffee shops and shopping centers.

“I think there is misinformation from others who are in opposition,” said Councilwoman Gina Gregory, the council representative of the area. “It’s fueling the fear.”

Residents in the small neighborhood along Spring Hill Avenue -- founded in 1845 by former slaves and free, indigenous people of color – worry that the city’s newly adopted UDC will promote gentrification in an area they would like to see preserved because of its history.

Sand Town encompasses about 35-40 acres, and its cemetery has some of the oldest Black graves in Mobile. The community was also home to the last slave quarters in the city, according to residents. Its modern boundaries are from Three Mile Creek just north of The Cedars and east to west from Dilston Street to Zeigler Boulevard.

Melvin Jackson of Mobile speaks in support of protecting the Sand Town community from commercial encroachment during the Mobile City Council's meeting on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

“We are older than the Clotilda,” said Marvin Jackson, a longtime Sand Town resident, referring to the slave ship that sailed into Mobile in 1860 with 110 enslaved Africans on board. It was discovered in 2019 and has become the focus of a redevelopment effort for the Africatown neighborhood of Mobile that was founded by the ship’s survivors.

Jackson lives on Sand Town property founded by Gilbert Fields, a liberated Black man who fled slavery in Georgia and settled in Mobile before the Civil War. He remained hidden among the indigenous people who lived in Sand Town before the Civil War, according to Jackson.

“We are older than the Africatown story,” said Jackson. “We might not have all of the drama they know about, but we know (our ancestors) spilled blood here to defend these hills when no one else was here.”

Residents, worried about the rich history being eradicated by commercial pressures, reached out to council members last weekend to voice their concerns.

The council, ahead of its vote, vowed to provide protections for Sand Town that could come in the form of a “safe zone” amendment, similar with what was adopted within the UDC to protect Africatown from future industrial encroachment. Under a safe zone, certain types of development would be prohibited within the community.

A development moratorium could also be considered in and around the Sand Town vicinity.

“We got to do something to get them protected,” said Councilman William Carroll. “I just know they are afraid. They feel like they are not being heard.”

Said Councilman Cory Penn, “It’s important to provide Sand Town with a safe zone.”

Residents are skeptical anything will happen now that the UDC is adopted.

“Once an item is approved, the aftermath of that does not necessarily mean they will follow through,” Jackson said.

Some council members believe the from residents are unfounded and were stirred through misinformation on social media.

They say the adoption of the UDC does nothing to change the residential zoning within their community. Any zoning changes require the approval of the Mobile Planning Commission, and then would need to be authorized by the City Council.

Those processes, they say, are played out in public and require all residents to be notified before they occur.

“What we heard was that there will be commercial encroachment on Sand Town,” Councilman Joel Daves said. “But if anyone seeks to rezone property, they have to go through this same process of going to the planning commission and they make a recommendation that goes to the City Council. And the person seeking the rezoning will need a neighborhood meeting.”

Mary Frances Craig, 83, a lifelong resident of the Sand Town community of Mobile, speaks out against the Spring Hill Overlay district within the city of Mobile's Unified Development Code during the Mobile City Council's meeting on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Concerns from the Sand Town residents seemed to focus on the “overlay district” for the Village of Spring Hill contained within the overall UDC.

The Village of Spring Hill is a group of citizens who, in 2006, formed an organization aimed at beautifying and improving the community. Sand Town is at the northern edges of the Spring Hill boundaries.

Spring Hill, south of Sand Hill and west of Interstate 65, consists of well-manicured neighborhoods, churches, golf courses, shopping centers, schools, and Spring Hill College.

The overlay district establishes additional regulatory requirements within Spring Hill by mostly encouraging walkable streets, pedestrian-friendly development, setback requirements and aesthetic measures such as signage restrictions.

Much of those requirements were included in the village’s master plan adopted by the Mobile City Council 15 years ago.

But some residents in Sand Town object to the leadership of Spring Hill and their efforts to beautify the nearby neighborhoods. They also claim they have not been part of discussions leading up to the council’s vote, nor have any Black residents been part of Spring Hill’s activities.

There also seems to be years of distrust, illustrated in some strong racial remarks during the council meeting.

“The only skill we lack is being white,” said Barbara Smith, president of the Sand Town Action Group.

She said that Sand Town’s opinions, when it comes to Spring Hill, do not matter.

Spring Hill Village representatives, however, say that is not the case.

Linda St. John, the village’s president, said that over the years, there have been plenty of meetings, mailings, and TV interviews about Spring Hill’s plans. She said over 600 people participated in the community planning process, and that letters went out to thousands of households about the village’s planning.

The city has hosted over 1,000 meetings since the UDC process began in 2017. Shayla Beaco, executive director of Build Mobile who administered the UDC development, said her team met with Sand Town residents “six to seven times” on issues related to land development plans within Spring Hill.

“Complacency or simply refusing to participate in a process that was open to the public is no basis for anyone to assert that they were not ‘include or consulted,’” said St. John.

Jackson said Sand Town residents plan to align with organizations like the NAACP and take their “historical fight to the state level.”

He said the community wants to be acknowledged as a heritage site and receive state and federal protections as well as the accolades that come with being named a historic district.

“We won’t sell out our dreams of the man who liberated himself from slavery,” said Jackson, referring to Fields, the liberated slave. “Thanks to his dream, this is where we are. We are not afraid of development. But it’s the type of development that’s the problem with us.”

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