18 projects across South MS to get $53 million in BP funds. Here’s the 2021 list.
A cyber center at Keesler Air Force Base was the big winner of the second round of Gulf Coast Restoration Funds approved by the state Legislature.
Eighteen projects totaling $52.8 million were approved by lawmakers, funding primarily education, downtown development and road projects.
The list, included in the Mississippi Development Authority appropriations bill, was approved after 9 p.m. Monday, as the Legislature wraps up this year’s session.
Senators Joel Carter (R-Gulfport) and Philip Moran (R-Pass Christian) voted “present” rather than voting for or against the bill.
Those projects funded for 2021 are:
▪ $13.5 million — Mississippi State University Mississippi Cyber Center at Keesler Air Force Base
▪ $6 million — City of Ocean Springs and OHOS Development for public/private development
▪ $4.5 million — University of Southern Mississippi Ocean Enterprise
▪ $3.2 million — Stone County High School Career and Technical Education Center
▪ $3 million — Pascagoula Redevelopment for downtown revitalization project
▪ $2.5 million — Stone County Supervisors for Piney Wood Pellet Mill road, rail and bypass
▪ $2.5 million — Gulfport Redevelopment Commission for Phase 1 of a planned three-phase downtown development project
▪ $2.5 million — Long Beach High School Career and Technical Education Center
▪ $2.5 million — Hancock County Port hanger and assault landing strip
▪ $2.1 million — Assist Gulfport with Forest Heights Project
▪ $2 million — City of Diamondhead Town Center Commercial District
▪ $2 million — Moss Point Interstate 10 Frontage Roads, north and south
▪ $1.9 million — Picayune Friendship Park Revitalization Project
▪ $1.9 million — Pearl River Community College Aviation Aerospace Academy
▪ $1 million — City of Bay St. Louis Court Street parking facility expansion and improvement
▪ $636,000 — Phase 3 and 4 for Walter Anderson Museum of Art creative complex
▪ $577,000 — Lucedale Ventura Drive improvements
▪ $480,000 — George County for Scott Road widening and infrastructure
The cyber center will be represented by Mississippi State University and will be in a new building at Keesler. In addition to the $13.5 million approved this year is $3.5 million that was reappropriated for the project from last year’s funds.
MSU has a Center for Cyber Innovation on campus that “develops solutions for Defense, Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community,” according to the university’s website.
The Gulf Coast Restoration Fund Advisory Board recommended 12 projects totaling $125.6 million, with $29.98 million of that recommended for Gulfport Town Center, a downtown mixed-use project funded with public and private funds.
The Legislature allocated $2.5 million for Phase 1 of a planned three-phase project to leverage public and private investment.
In its 2020 project list, the advisory board had recommended $3.5 million for the MSU Mississippi Cyber Center, and that was approved by the Legislature.
A “miracle mile” in Moss Point, which was recommended by the advisory board, also was funded. It will connect the city’s I-10 exits, a mile apart, with service roads on the north and south side. It is being modeled after The Magnificent Mile in Chicago.
The Legislature also provided $2.5 million for MDA’s Air Service Development Incentive Program, $3 million for MDA’s Quality of Place Incentives Program and $1 million for the development of a South Mississippi defense and space industry strategy for small companies to compete for defense contracts.
2020 money not spent yet
Mississippi will receive $57 million each year through 2033 for economic damages caused by the BP oil spill, and it will go into the Gulf Coast Advisory Fund to be allocated each year in the six counties of South Mississippi.
This is only the second year, and Sen. Brice Wiggins (R-Pascagoula) said at this month’s meeting of the Gulf Coast Business Council that the Legislature was not been happy with the MDA delay in getting funding allocated.
“It should have never taken that long,” he said.
The Legislature directed MDA to implement a project management system “that provides for full tracking and reporting of the amounts appropriated, reappropriated and expended for each project funded by the Gulf Coast Restoration Fund in this act.”
The Legislature reappropriated money for projects that started last year and were not fully funded.
They include:
▪ $7 million for University of Southern Mississippi Ocean Enterprise Phase I
▪ $3.5 million for Gautier’s Town Center Development
▪ $3.2 million for Stone County High School Career and Technical Education Center
▪ $2.5 million for multi-user aero strip at Stennis Airport
▪ $2 million to City of Biloxi for downtown revitalization at Saenger Theater
▪ $2 million to assist City of Ocean Springs and the OHOS Development LLC with a public/private development
▪ $1.55 million Power Dynamics Innovations LLC for equipment and facility upgrades
▪ $1.5 million for City of Bay St. Louis Old Town Depot Revitalization District
▪ $1.5 million for City of Diamondhead commercial district transformation project
▪ $1 million for Bay St Louis Old Town Police Department
▪ $750,000 for Walter Anderson Museum Creative Complex Phase I and begin Phase II
▪ $100,000 for Gulfport School District STEM Exploration Lab
Wiggins said the Legislature wanted to honor the commitments that were funded last year, and said some of those were multi-year funding that will be complete this year. This year, the state also has COVID-19 stimulus money that can probably fund some of the requested projects, he said.
From the beginning, Mississippi business leaders and residents said they wanted this money to be spent on projects that will transform South Mississippi.
“There is a continual discussion about what is transformative,” Wiggins said. “I think we are still working on that.”
He also made it clear that “The advisory committee is just that — advisory,” and from Day 1 the Legislature said it makes determinations about appropriations.
Recommended by advisory board for 2021
The advisory board recommended 12 projects from those that submitted applications, totaling $125.6 million. Most of them were for a much higher dollar amount than the Legislature’s list of projects.
They include:
▪ $29.98 million — Gulfport Town Center, Harrison County
▪ $26 million — Memorial Multi-specialty Center, Harrison County
▪ $18.4 million — Coastal MS YMCA, Harrison County (also recommended in 2020)
▪ $15.4 million — Singing River Healthcare Workforce Training Academy, Jackson County
▪ $10 million — Piney Wood Pellet Mill Reactivation Project, Stone County
▪ $8.8 million — 1515 Government Street, Ocean Springs, Jackson County
▪ $5.4 million — Pass Christian Downtown Redevelopment Initiative, Harrison County
▪ $3.9 million — Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Project Ready Site Mitigation, Harrison County
▪ $3.2 million — Stone County High School Career and Technical Center Phase II, Stone County
▪ $2 million — Moss Point Magnificent Mile, Jackson County
▪ $2 million — Pearl River Community College Hancock Aviation Aerospace Workforce Academy, Hancock County
▪ $636,000 — Walter Anderson Museum of Art Creative Complex (Phase II and III), Jackson County
This story was originally published March 30, 2021 at 11:38 AM.
