Popp’s Ferry Causeway Park opens in Biloxi, and there’s big plans for the bait shop
The long-awaited Popp’s Ferry Causeway Park has opened, providing free admission to experience fishing, crabbing, walking, kayaking and more on Biloxi’s Back Bay.
Walk through an ornamental gate and you’ll find outdoor pavilions, piers, waterfront and over-marsh walkways with rails and covered fishing kiosks. There’s also an open-air interpretive center and nature trails with kiosks that describe native plants and animals in the marsh land.
The 10-acre park, which juts into the Back Bay on the west side of the Popp’s Ferry Bridge, was made possible largely by $4.2 million in BP oil-spill recovery money. You reach the park by taking Causeway Drive just north of the bridge.
But, for now, the gates open at 7 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Why the restricted hours? And why hasn’t a bait shop opened?
Answers to the questions are somewhat related, said Cecilia Dobbs Watson, Biloxi public affairs specialist.
“There’s no one to open and close the park,” she said. But the public can still access waterfront fishing and piers located before you reach the gate at any hour, she said, and the area is lighted.
The business that will run the bait shop, concession stand and kayak rentals will be responsible for locking and unlocking the gate once it opens this fall, she said. Extended hours are expected in the future.
“A certificate of occupancy has not been issued yet for the bait shop building due to a list of (building code) items that need to be complete,” Watson said.
City officials in early July approved a lease that will allow Biloxi Watershed LLC to operate a bait shop, concession stand and kayak rentals.
The business, whose partners are affiliated with The Fillin’ Station restaurant downtown, plan to open a 1,000-square-foot shop this fall. By spring, the operators plan to add an outdoor bar that overlooks the waterfront.
A plan for the park began in 1986 when then-Mayor Gerald Blessey asked the city to buy a sliver of waterfront land as pitched in the Biloxi Waterfront Master Plan.
Biloxi paid $600,000 for the property in 2001, and the city spent $1 million after Hurricane Katrina to repair damages and build a waterfront boardwalk, upgrade a boat ramp and install lighting for night fishing.
The city ran out of money to finish developing the park until Gov. Phil Bryant steered $4.2 million in oil spill recovery money to the project in 2013. The money came from projects funded by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment.
The city was working with Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and the Mississippi Department on Marine Resources to resolve Tidelands issues and other concerns in the past year or so.
Robin Fitzgerald, 228-896-2307, @robincrimenews