Biloxi rejects plan for downtown medical marijuana dispensary near Beau Rivage. Why?
Medical marijuana dispensaries will soon open across South Mississippi, but the Biloxi City Council on Tuesday rejected the Nicaud family’s proposal for one in a two-story building near casinos and the baseball stadium.
More than 100 applications for dispensaries already have been approved by the state, Magnolia State Live reported, with 17 of them in the three Coast counties.
An application for a medical cannabis dispensary in an existing building at 100 Caillavet St. — at the corner of Beach Boulevard — was shot down by a 5-0 vote. Councilmen Robert Deming III and Nathan Barrett left the room during the discussion and vote.
“I’m just concerned that we’re going to have one on every corner and two in the middle of each street,” Councilwoman Dixie Newman said during the meeting. “And it’s just going to be not exactly what we’re wanting.”
Beau Rivage attorney speaks against dispensary
The downtown building now houses Fillup-With-Billups restaurant and is across the street from MGM Park, the city’s minor league baseball stadium, and Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, Biloxi’s largest casino.
“We do believe they belong in certain areas,” Anthony DelVescovo, vice president and general counsel for the Beau Rivage, said of the dispensaries.
Next to the stadium isn’t one of those areas, he told the council.
Beau Rivage is the landowner of the property on which the stadium was built, he said, and it has a family atmosphere.
“What I hear about the future of the dispensaries is that the next step is to have some type of open air place where they can have on-premises usage of marijuana,” he said.
DelVescovo said he doesn’t think it would be good for children, families or Coast visitors to smell marijuana in the stands.
The Beau Rivage has $1 billion investment in its resort, he said, and just spent $95 million on a hotel room makeover..
“We’re the city’s biggest tax payer, the city’s biggest employer,” he told the council, and he said tourism is one of the company’s biggest challenges.
“We spend close to $40-$50 million a year trying to bring guests to the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” he said.
He suggested the council members make sure the dispensaries are in places that don’t affect other businesses and the things those businesses are trying to achieve in the city.
Nicaud family also invests in Biloxi, attorney says
“At this point, medical cannibals is only permitted as a medical use,” said Donovan Scruggs, attorney for J.N. Caillavet LLC, the company making the application.
To allow any outdoor use would take a change in the state legislation and city council approval, he said.
While casinos and tourist attractions are in this location, he said, it’s also very medical. The property is next to another pharmacy and Merit Health Center is just to the north.
“I do think this is a use very consistent with the area,” he said.
Conner Reeves, an attorney from Jackson, told the council he is working with business owners all over the state who are entering the medical cannabis industry.
Reeves said he represents Field Nicaud and the Nicaud family, who also have invested heavily in Biloxi.
The family owns Field’s steakhouse and a luxury apartment building close to the site. Billups may move next to Jourdan Nicaud’s apartments in the old Josette’s building.
Investors aren’t about to put the dispensaries in out of the way locations, Reeves said, but want to be where the people are.
He said 77% of Biloxi voters supported medical marijuana, and while everyone has concerns about the new program, “Many of those concerns are tied to recreational use,” he said.
What about Biloxi?
Out of the 10 dispensaries already approved in Harrison County, six are in Biloxi and four are in Gulfport. One of those permitted in Biloxi is at 1120 Beach Boulevard and Azalea, a block west of the Biloxi Lighthouse.
The dispensaries are allowed in two business zoning districts, said Jerry Creel, Biloxi community development director. In downtown and waterfront zoned areas they are allowed only as conditional use, he said, “because we felt that there are some areas that might be appropriate for it and some that weren’t appropriate for it.”
The city ordinance provides nine criteria the Council should consider when granting or denying a conditional use, he said, including allowing the council to decide if the use as a marijuana dispensary is compatible with the surrounding area.
The council put in its denial of the site that it is across from the baseball stadium, a family attraction
Newman also asked Creel if he could give the Council some kind of map where dispensary owners want to open so the council can determine how many want to come and how many should be permitted in the downtown.
This story was originally published September 8, 2022 at 10:20 AM.
