Update: Secretary of state: Biloxi, county ‘proceed at own risk’ with pier lease
Not waiting for a ruling from the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Biloxi City Council and Harrison County agreed to lease property to RW Development to build a pier on the beach at Veterans Avenue.
The lease agreement was part of the consent agenda at Tuesday’s Biloxi Council meeting and it passed with no discussion.
It calls for RW Development, which operates Big Play Entertainment Center at U.S. 90 and Veterans Avenue, to build and maintain a pier. The lease says RW Development will provide a rendering of the proposed construction within 30 days of the effective date of this lease.
Plans are for a 300-foot long concrete pier about 20 feet above the water that is handicapped accessible.
The pier itself can’t be used for a casino, according to the lease agreement.
“No gaming shall be allowed on the municipal pier, nor on any vessels docked or berthed at the pier, nor on any other area of the leased premises,” it says.
The lease would give Ray Wooldridge, owner of RW Development, control of the land to the beach. That was the issue that saw his request for a legal casino site denied three times by the Mississippi Gaming Commission.
A temporary restraining order, granted in part by Judge Jennifer Schloegel in April in Harrison County Chancery Court, said neither Secretary of State Michael Watson nor Biloxi could convey a lease to RW Development or anyone else until the court decides the ongoing lawsuit.
In June, Schloegel ruled cities and counties are within their rights to construct a public pier at Veterans Avenue without a tidelands lease from the Secretary of State.
The order removed the temporary restraining order and said the Secretary of State’s claim that he is solely in charge of the beach is not supported by laws that give similar powers to the city and county.
“This is outstanding news for Biloxi and all the cities and counties along the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich said at the time. “This is about public access and enjoyment of the waterfront, and the cities and counties have been building piers, harbors and other amenities on the waterfront for more than 100 years.”
On Monday the city filed a motion in Harrison County Circuit Court asking that the appeal filed by the Secretary of State be dismissed.
The Supreme Court hasn’t ruled yet on the appeal, and Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a statement to the Sun Herald: “This matter is on appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court; thus, until a final decision by that court, the city of Biloxi, Harrison County, and RW Development proceed at their own risk.”
Watson is confident the state will win the lawsuit.
“I believe the Mississippi Supreme Court will confirm the legislature’s statutory designation of the Secretary of State as the state’s trustee for the administration, management and leasing of the Public Trust Tidelands as it has done in previous decisions,” he said.
Watson said this isn’t the only tidelands issue being fought in the courts, but he said it has a solution if Biloxi wants a pier.
“It should be noted our office has offered a rent-exempt lease for this area on numerous occasions,” he said, “similar to other successful and recent rent-exempt leases with the city and county — and the offer still stands.”
That lease would be to the city and county, not a developer.
Under the terms of the five-year lease approved Tuesday, RW Development will pay a base rent of $1,000 per month, which would begin after the pier is built or two years from the agreement. The company would build and maintain the pier.
RW Development will have non-exclusive use of the pier, which would be built on the beach and near the boardwalk, which are both open to the public.
The lease agreement says the pier will promote economic development, increase employment and tax revenue and assist the city, county and state in the recovery from all the disasters that have hit Biloxi over the past 16 years — Hurricane Katrina, the great recession, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 4:10 PM.
