BILOXI -- The answer to whether a casino will be allowed north of U.S. 90 will have to wait a little longer, since the application isn't on the Mississippi Gaming Commission's June 19 agenda as first expected.
"We certainly hope to be on the July agenda," said Reed Guice, spokesman for RW Development, which has proposed building a casino on the northeast corner of U.S. 90 and Veterans Avenue. RW also owns commercial land on the south side of 90, but a strip of sand beach remains between that property and the water.
On April 8 the City Council changed the zoning to waterfront, which is needed before the Gaming Commission will decide if it is a legal casino site. That decision typically comes the same day as the proposal is made to the Gaming Commission.
Meanwhile, the Biloxi Planning Commission has scheduled a public hearing for July 3 to consider whether the beachfront property in East Biloxi from Dukate to Kuhn streets should be zoned waterfront.
"The hearing will be held," said Community Development Director Jerry Creel, although the city expected to know how South Beach fared before the meeting.
Councilman Mike Fitzpatrick said the hearing shouldn't be postponed until after the South Beach decision. "One has nothing to do with the other," he said.
Former Mayor Jerry O'Keefe and his wife, Martha, asked for the hearing to consider rezoning all the property to waterfront rather than continuing to consider individual applications. The area includes the Tivoli site, where a $1 billion casino development was proposed north of U.S. 90. The City Council approved the developers' rezoning request but Mayor A.J. Holloway vetoed that decision.
Even if the city rezones the property, it doesn't mean that area of beachfront will be approved for casinos. "We look at each individual casino on its own merit," said Gaming Commission Executive Director Larry Gregory.
Construction continues on the first condominium tower of the South Beach project, and Guice said RW Development hopes to have it finished by Labor Day.
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