Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2008
Resize text
Biloxi Council OKs zoning expansion
It now goes to Planning panel
By MARY PEREZ
meperez@sunherald.com
MOST-READ STORIES
- Woman charged for exposing husband to HIV
- Owner misses her dedication
- Watery fun fountain opens today
- AROUND SOUTH MISSISSIPPI
- Schools trim games to save fuel money
- FLDS: Polygamist sect practices
- IP RESTAURANT BOWS TO THE EAST
- 4 HURT IN PILEUP
- Man guilty of killing at his home
- Vancleave man guilty of raping girl
BILOXI --
The Biloxi Council and Mayor A.J. Holloway had three different reactions to a proposal to expand all existing waterfront zoning districts in the city to 800 feet from the mean high line.The resolution introduced by councilmen George Lawrence and David Fayard passed 4-2 and will now go to the Biloxi Planning Commission for a public hearing. Ed Gemmill and Charles Harrison voted in favor of initiating the zoning change. Mike Fitzpatrick and Tom Wall voted against it; Bill Stallworth was absent.
Lawrence said rezoning all the property at once will save landowners from multiple zoning extensions. Developers already will know they have the appropriate zoning for a casino, he said, and property owners will have the opportunity to sell their land at waterfront prices.
Holloway suggested the council table the zoning change until the Mississippi Gaming Commission rules on the request by RW Development to build a casino north of the sand beach and U.S. 90. That is expected to be on the Gaming Commission's June agenda, and will clarify the 800-foot legislation for onshore casinos.
Fitzpatrick asked that the council look at rezoning all city property within 800 feet of the toe of the seawall to waterfront "so when the developer comes in it's already done." Fitzpatrick said he was he was looking to the future, and two months from now the city might have more waterfront sites in West Biloxi.
"We're not talking about specific sites," said city attorney Michael Collins. When the 800-foot legislation was passed by the state legislature after Hurricane Katrina, the council discussed across-the-board rezoning. Collins said the council instead decided to require each developer to individually apply for waterfront zoning to the 800-foot line.
In other action, the council authorized a study to improve safety on Cedar Lake Road north of Interstate 10 near the Pilot service station. Jonathan Kiser of Neel-Schaffer showed how traffic could be improved with additional turn lanes, which he estimated would cost the city $1.2 million, and a traffic light. The council also vacated a right-of-way on Motsie Road, where 60 assisted-living units will be built. The developer, rather than the city, will now be responsible for cleaning a lagoon that straddles that piece of land.
