Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2008

GULFPORT -- Two weeks after pulling the plug on Grass Lawn, the City Council on Tuesday voted to revive the historic mansion.

The council last month voted against accepting a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Archives and History to help rebuild the antebellum Grass Lawn mansion.

But after several days of what some considered unfair media scrutiny, the council voted 6-1 to accept the money.

The mansion was so revered by Gulfport that the home had a place on the city's official seal.

Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines was the lone vote against the grant, saying she was unhappy that the Warr administration did not get the council's approval when it applied for the grant.

"To go to this level of the grant process without council approval is disturbing to me," she said.

Some members of the group poised to save the old downtown library expressed chagrin over a grant to rebuild Grass Lawn while the library's days seem numbered.

Mayor Brent Warr said the federal government considers Grass Lawn an iconic structure. Library lovers said the library was iconic, too. Grass Lawn was built in 1863. The library is 43 years old.

Councilwoman Barbara Nalley said if the city rebuilds Grass Lawn, it should also save the library. Nalley had to leave last month's session early before the council voted against the grant, but after some questioning, she voted for the grant this week.

"I had a prior commitment," she said. "This is a part-time job; however, we have been crucified in the press lately. We all take this job very seriously."

The city already has insurance and FEMA money to rebuild Grass Lawn and the council recently voted unanimously to award a design contract to architect Frank Genzer.

Carloyn Dixon is a Beach Boulevard homeowner who opposes the rebuilding of Grass Lawn because, among other reasons, parking was tight and some of the events disturbed the neighborhood.

"There was public urination and vomiting in our yards," she said.

Mike Necaise, the city's finance chief, said Gulfport did not have a separate budget for Grass Lawn, so how much it cost to operate the facility before Katrina is unclear.

"Well, I certainly think that's a question we have to consider," Nalley said. "We can't put the library back or a community center back, but yet, we are going to put something like this back in harm's way."

Councilwoman Libby Milner-Roland chose not to vote on the Grass Lawn grant last month because her grandfather purchased the historic home in 1905, but on Tuesday she recommended the council vote again.

"Like I told the newspaper," she said. "I won't recuse myself again."