Biloxi finally ready to move on utilities for Woolmarket

BILOXI -- By February, Mayor Andrew "FoFo" Gilich wants to have a plan and a cost estimate for providing utilities in Woolmarket.

The area was annexed in 1999 with the stipulation the city would provide water and sewer as soon as economically feasible.

Gilich said Woolmarket has been neglected for almost 20 years. Biloxi can't figure out how to pay for the work, he said, until the city knows how much it will cost.

"It's going to be maybe $10 million," he told the City Council this week. After Biloxi has the actual numbers in hand for providing water and sewer and correcting the drainage problems, he said the city can identify any money that may be available to help pay for the work and devise a debt-service plan.

On Tuesday, the council approved a zoning change for a 96-acre subdivision on Hudson-Krohn Road to develop 131 homes. The approval came after city officials worked with developer Dennis Stieffel to ensure the development wouldn't add to the area's drainage problems.

Stieffel said the developers agreed to design this and another project in Woolmarket to higher standards -- basically enlarging the retention areas from the minimum required 25-year storm to a 100-year storm. That will make the runoff less after the development is built than it is now, he said.

Biloxi Public Works Director Dan Gaillet presented to the council a report of drainage in the East Woolmarket Road area prepared by A. Garner Russell and Associates. Gaillet said it concludes much of the drainage system is undersized, leading to flooding.

Many of the drainage problems in that area are in the subdivision known as Woolmarket Plantation or Larkin Subdivision, the report said, and in the ditches and pipes that drain from the area south across Woolmarket Road.

"The large open ditches running south from Woolmarket Road need special mention," the report said. The city frequently gets complaints about the ditches being poorly maintained, and the report said if flooding is to be alleviated along Woolmarket Road, the ditches must be dug out to the proper width, depth and slope.

The cost estimate for just the drainage work would be $2.4 million, Gaillet said, which doesn't include engineering, inspections or acquisition of easements.

This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 6:46 PM with the headline "Biloxi finally ready to move on utilities for Woolmarket ."