As the Mullet Wrapper reported, Foley Mayor Ralph Hellmich said in March 2025, "We recognize that Foley's success and attractiveness as a place to live have brought substantial residential development, but this growth must be balanced with our ability to protect the character of our community." That same month, the city council voted to stop approving new residential subdivisions, multi-family projects, RV parks, mobile home parks, and any rezoning that would raise density. The pause lasted until January 2026.
That is an unusual thing for the fastest-growing city in Alabama to do, and it matters more to a buyer weighing new construction against resale in Foley right now than the growth headlines do.
What Actually Stopped, and When
Foley's building department had been on a tear before the pause. A city planning official told WKRG that permits had climbed from around 700-900 a year to roughly 1,600 in a recent fiscal year, a pace the department was straining to keep up with. Then, in the middle of that surge, the council hit stop on new subdivision approvals for close to ten months so staff could rewrite the zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations behind it. The moratorium lifted in January 2026.
That timing is the part worth sitting with. The pause did not happen during a lull. It happened at the peak of demand, which means the projects that would have broken ground on new streets between spring 2025 and early 2026 mostly did not. Whatever new-construction inventory exists in Foley today either cleared the pipeline before March 2025 or has only been moving again since January.
The Growth Kept Coming Anyway
None of this slowed the population count. Foley was Alabama's fastest-growing city with at least 10,000 residents for the second year in a row, according to Census estimates covering 2025, adding about 2,200 people for a growth rate near 8 percent. The city held 20,335 residents at the 2020 census; by 2025 that figure was closer to 26,500, and local reporting this year put it nearer 28,000. Foley also ranked 14th among the fastest-growing cities in the entire country for the year ending July 2025.
U-Haul Company of Southern Alabama president Chad Rome pointed to cost of living as the draw, noting that Foley offers the same coastal lifestyle as its beach neighbors at a lower price, plus a second-home and short-term rental market that keeps outside buyers interested. That demand did not pause with the moratorium. It kept arriving into a market where the newest phase of supply had a temporary lid on it, which is exactly the kind of gap that shows up later as pricing pressure on whatever inventory is actually available, new or resale.
Where the New Supply Is Headed Next
The marquee project waiting on the other side of the pause is Cresswind at Sandy Creek, a 750-acre, age-55-plus community off the Foley Beach Expressway and Fern Street. The plan calls for more than 1,300 single-family, ranch-style homes with a gated, golf-cart-friendly layout, 30 pickleball courts, a resort-style pool with lap lanes, tennis courts, a dog park, a community garden, and a full-time lifestyle director. It is not opening until late 2027.
That gap between now and late 2027 is the practical takeaway for anyone shopping new construction in Foley on the assumption that the city's growth reputation means abundant, ready inventory. Some of the biggest planned new-construction product in the market is still more than a year from delivering keys, and it sat behind a ten-month approval freeze before that.
Who Actually Pays for the Growth
Foley funds its infrastructure catch-up through a mechanism most buyers never think to ask about. According to Gulf Coast Media, the city adopted a one-time impact fee on new development in 2021, based on a study by TischlerBise, charged at the point of building permit rather than through property or sales tax increases on existing residents. For a single-family home, the fee split was set at $2,477 toward parks and recreation and $497 toward streets. Baldwin County caps these fees at 1 percent of a completed development's fair market value, and Alabama law gives municipalities five years to spend what they collect.
Mayor Hellmich has been direct about the arrangement, saying the city's roughly $108 million in capital spending over the past five years came largely from those fees rather than from higher taxes on people who already live there. Council President Wayne Trawick has been just as direct that approving a budget line does not commit the city to spending it; as OBA reported, each capital project is a separate vote, and Trawick described the practice as "our way of keeping our finger on the trigger."
Here is the split in plain terms:
| Funding tool | What it pays for | Who pays it |
|---|---|---|
| One-time impact fee, collected at building permit | Parks and recreation, streets | Only new development |
| Property and sales tax base | Day-to-day city operations and services | All residents |
The projects this money has touched are specific and traceable. The Beulah Heights Regional Stormwater Facility, part of a drainage effort that began in 2008 on 480 acres in southeast Foley, is in another upgrade phase funded by a grant from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, aimed at keeping runoff out of Wolf Creek. A separate $2 million grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation is funding an upgrade to the Miflin Road intersection with the Foley Beach Express. Neither of those came out of a homeowner's tax bill.
What This Means If You're Comparing New Construction to Resale
Put the two mechanisms together and the picture for a buyer sharpens. New construction in Foley carries an impact fee baked into its cost structure. At the same time, the ten-month approval freeze meant fewer new permits were filed during exactly the window when demand was strongest, which means resale inventory absorbed more of that demand than the city's growth ranking alone would suggest.
If a new-construction listing in Foley looks priced ahead of the surrounding resale market, it is worth asking a few direct questions before assuming the number is arbitrary:
- Was this permit filed before the March 2025 pause, during it, or after the January 2026 lift?
- Does the quoted price already include the one-time impact fee paid at permit, or is that fee layered on separately at closing?
- How does the actual construction timeline compare to when the subdivision's site plan was approved, especially for larger projects like Cresswind that are still more than a year from delivery?
None of that makes new construction the wrong choice. It makes the price tag legible, which is the point.
A Short FAQ
When is the impact fee charged? The fee is charged at the point of a building permit for new development.
Could Foley pause new subdivision approvals again? The city's 2025-2030 Strategic Plan states an intent to manage growth with a regulatory framework the city describes as fair, predictable, sustainable, and consistently applied, which suggests future adjustments are possible as conditions change. Nothing in current reporting points to another moratorium being planned.
The Practical Read
Foley's growth story is real. So is the ten-month pause that briefly narrowed the pipeline feeding that growth right as demand peaked, and so is the fee structure that keeps the city's infrastructure bill off existing homeowners' tax notices. A buyer who understands both pieces is negotiating from a clearer position than one who is just reacting to the fastest-growing-city headline.
If you are weighing new construction against resale anywhere along Foley's growth corridor, or trying to time a purchase around a specific project like Cresswind at Sandy Creek, The Legacy Group can walk through what a given listing's numbers actually reflect. Schedule a Private Consultation and bring your questions.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
