Update: City attorney tells Gulfport council it can’t hear appeal of proposed subdivision on golf course property

The Gulfport City Council on Tuesday was not able to hear an appeal some residents filed over objections to a major housing development planned for land once occupied by the Great Southern Golf Course.

Dozens of residents showed up at a Gulfport City Council meeting after being told they could appeal a development project by Arbor Sites, LLC, which plans to develop the former front nine holes of the golf course into 177 homes. The Florida company presented its idea to the Gulfport Planning Commission, which approved the project in June.

During Tuesday’s meeting, City Attorney Jeff Bruni advised the council that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal due to an ordinance and only the developer had the ability to make appeals to the council if the general plan had not been approved. Bruni noted that appeals could be made after the final plan is approved, but not after the approval of a general plan.

After Bruni’s advice, the council deleted the appeal from the meeting’s agenda.

According to the council, allowing the appeal to be submitted and put on the agenda was an oversight. Council members Ella Holmes-Hinds and others apologized for the mistake and said that the council had been prepared to vote on the issue at the meeting before the jurisdiction issue was brought to their attention.

Attorney Tim Holleman, who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, expressed concern over the fact that the jurisdictional issue wasn’t raised with those filing the appeal before the meeting, and that the appeal was deleted rather than dismissed, giving those filing the appeal no avenue to appeal the deletion. He expressed concern that waiting to appeal until the final plan is approved will be too late due to possible infrastructure already built.

Benjamin Simms, a Southern Circle resident, told the council in the public comment portion of the meeting that residents paid the proper fees to file an appeal and were told they had the ability to do so.

Residents of Venetian Gardens, Mockingbird Lane, Southern Circle and East Beach Boulevard, all areas that surround the old golf course, had intended to appeal the planning commission’s due to concerns about the proposed development.

“We’re on the beach,” said resident Shirley Godsey, among those who tried to appeal what would be called The Great Southern Subdivision. “Gulfport should only approve a development that fits into the character of the surrounding, established neighborhoods. The proposed density of the Arbor project does not meet that criteria.”

Godsey and others say one issue could be dangerous: disturbing 100 years of applications of toxic chemicals to the golf course. Residents filed an appeal with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, forcing the developer to analyze soil samples and check the sprinkler system pipes containing asbestos before digging and starting work on the site.

The results of the soil testing haven’t been shared with the surrounding neighborhoods, Godsey said.

Residents also are concerned that protected trees could be cut down to make way for the homes and that traffic from the area may become a burden.

Arbor Sites, LLC, has a history of 25 to 30 years on the Coast, as the builder and operator of several apartment communities: Arbor Place and Arbor Landing on the River in Biloxi, Arbor View in D’Iberville, Arbor Village in Gulfport and Arbor Station in Long Beach.

Last year, the president of the company told the Sun Herald he wanted to save many of the trees on the land. “We’re really trying to design something both us and the community can be proud of for a long time,” said Gordon Thames.

The golf course closed because it couldn’t operate profitably in recent years. The golf course was built in 1908, and Great Southern Golf Club filed for bankruptcy in 2019 to restructure its debt accumulated on the 129-acre property since Hurricane Katrina.

Sun Herald reporters Mary Perez contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 5:50 AM.