Black property owners appeal loss of lawsuit against Ocean Springs over ‘slum’ label
The nonprofit Institute for Justice will appeal the loss of a lawsuit it filed for Black property owners over Ocean Springs’ decision to label their historic downtown neighborhood as “slum or blighted” and in need of urban renewal.
The public interest law firm, based in Arlington, Virginia, filed a lawsuit against the city in October 2023 in U.S. District Court. Property owners maintained the city should have notified them individually before taking action.
But a federal judge ruled Friday that the action was legislative and required no individual notice. Judge Taylor McNeel also noted the residents prevailed in the end. Because of the uproar, the city rescinded the slum or blight designation and drastically shrunk the urban renewal area, removing the Black neighborhood and other acreage included.
“The ruling not only affirms that the city acted in full accordance with the law but also that the city remained committed to listening to its residents throughout the process,” Mayor Kenny Holloway said in a news release.
“The city remains committed to valuing community input and working together to shape the future of Ocean Springs.”
But the Institute for Justice believes Mississippi is wrong to allow slum or blight designations without individual notice first. The lack of notice, the group says, violates the constitutional right to due process. By appealing, the institute hopes to establish that Mississippians should receive individual notices before their properties are considered for slum and blight designations.
Ocean Springs urban renewal drive
A slum or blight designation can allow a city to eventually take the private property through eminent domain, the group argues, although the city has insisted it had no intention to do so.
“Mississippi governments cannot brand neighborhoods as slums in secret,” institute Litigation Director Dana Berliner said Monday in a news release. “Obviously telling a person about something when it’s too late to do anything is not the meaningful opportunity to be heard that the U.S. Constitution’s Due Process Clause requires.”
The city for 273 days displayed at City Hall a map that showed six proposed urban renewal areas, including the Railroad District settled by Black residents in what is now downtown Ocean Springs.
After the map was displayed, the Board of Aldermen voted, in April 2023, in favor of a designating the blighted areas for “rehabilitation, conservation, and redevelopment.” Urban renewal areas are eligible for federal funds for improvements.
Once the designation was approved, residents had only 10 days to appeal. But they say they found out months later, when it was too late.
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 1:33 PM.
