Plans, Priorities Pave Way to Mississippi Recovery
Release Date: August 31, 2007
Release Number: 1604-593
» More Information on Mississippi Hurricane Katrina
BILOXI, Miss. -- Two years ago it would have been difficult to find a Gulf Coast resident who could visualize anything positive emerging from Hurricane Katrina's destruction. Today, residents and leaders are facing brighter prospects. Reconstruction and economic plans are materializing, steadily making a Pilgrim's Progress from those dark days of destruction to a shining, more promising future.
"We are sorry about the damage and the deaths caused by the storm," said D'Iberville Mayor Rusty Quave. "But we have a new beginning now. This will be a different Gulf Coast - a better one."
D'Iberville, a city of 7,900 sitting on the north side of the Biloxi Back Bay, is brimming with opportunities: expansion through annexation, construction of its first casino, a nearly completed master plan that includes a French-themed market along the waterfront, hundreds of new townhouses and condos and interest in developing additional casinos.
"We have to look at this as an opportunity, otherwise we won't survive," said D'Iberville City Manager Richard Rose. "Our houses will look different, our lives will be different. It will be better."
Most residents agree. An onlooker can sense it when neighbors visit Quave's store and restaurant to share progress reports with the mayor as he drinks his morning coffee. One is excited about a building permit, another is looking forward to moving out of a trailer into a new or repaired house.
Quave, in his fourth term as mayor, may be the most ebullient as he simultaneously hails each visitor and jumps out of his chair to look for a copy of a master plan in the works.
"We [city council] approved an overlay district," said Quave as he points to an aerial map of the city's undeveloped waterfront. An overlay district is an area typically developed before or along with the preparation of a comprehensive land-use plan. "And, we're going to use SmartCode."
The brainchild of Miami-based urban theorist Andres Duany and his associates, SmartCode, is a design and development model to keep towns' compact and rural landscape open while preventing urban sprawl through zoning. Since Katrina, many of the 11 Mississippi Coast cities have embraced the model for their evolving master plans.
"We participated in the charettes [design process] where we learned about the possibilities of redesigning the city," said Quave. "I've learned over the years that you have to start at the bottom. We went through every process we've just about got our plan and we've all accepted the concept."
The plan is nearly in place but paying for it is the next hurdle. City Manager Rose is optimistic. The city is in good financial shape and sales tax revenue will help. Several high profile retailers are eyeing sites near D'Iberville's I-10 interchange.
Federal and state money is also on the way.
In addition to state grants, the proposed plan for the city's Old Town district will be paid for with grants totaling between $20-$30 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). The funds will repair or replace storm-damaged infrastructure. During the next few years, annexation of land north of the city will add to the population and expand the tax base. A $10 million grant from FEMA and MEMA will help build a new high school in D'Iberville, replete with a state-of- the-art storm shelter and a reinforced classroom building that will make it one of the safest schools in the United States
The future looks bright to Quave, Rose and residents of D'Iberville. "We'll create a new sphere of influence along the Coast," Rose said. "But we don't want to lose site of our history and our values."
Moss Point Mayor Xavier Bishop doesn't want to lose sight of the individual needs of his city of 16,000. Lying in the shadow of Pascagoula's port, Moss Point has a different set of problems than does its 10 coastal neighbors. There's no gambling in Jackson County, no easy economic solutions woven into this city's recovery plans.
City leaders started discussions on downtown redevelopment two decades ago, when a highway expansion project cut off traffic, stifling economic activities along the main thoroughfare.
In office only six weeks before the storm, Bishop set out to make things happen, to jumpstart the old redevelopment discussions. But then Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath took center stage.
"The storm compelled us to rethink plans for the city," said Bishop. Downtown used to be the focus of redevelopment talks, Bishop said. Since the storm, the waterfront has become an essential part of the plans drawn up by HOK Architects, SmartCode advocates. They've helped create a marketable document to present to potential developers.
The plan is for the waterfront to serve as a public, pedestrian-friendly, multi-use space but also as a buffer when a future storm threatens. Katrina's surge overflowed bayous and creeks, destroying city government buildings. Vessels from a shipbuilder were shaken from moorings; they chaotically set sail under the power of the storm's 120 mph winds, ramming piers and other ships.
The waterfront has long been the focus of the Moss Point economy, supporting ship building, seafood processing and a paper mill. But that began to change when International Paper, operating in the city since 1928, closed in 2001, eliminating more than 300 jobs. The seafood industry is still recovering from Katrina and a key player in its shipbuilding industry canceled plans to expand after the storm. The proposed plan is to revitalize the riverfront, drawing new business interests and industry.
Funding for Moss Point's projects will come from different sources. FEMA in partnership with MEMA will provide millions to replace city government buildings and infrastructure. The city also will receive a state grant. Additional funding will be needed.
Bishop is juggling a full plate of needs.
"We can't prioritize as a city could under normal circumstances," said Bishop. "We have to address economic development along with housing, along with infrastructure now. We can't isolate one need. If someone walks in with a need, that's the priority of the moment."
Bishop said his challenge is to help individuals meet their needs while trying to launch the city's new master plan. He said he can use all the help he can get and not necessarily money.
"We need technical assistance and advisors just as states and the federal government use. If Katrina happened in my home town of Chicago, there would be no shortage of advisors."
Moss Point recovery would make an enormous case study, Bishop added.
"We'd like to be left in a better position to deal with another disaster." It's not just the future of Moss Point that Bishop is concerned about. "The future of the entire region is at stake," he said.
The future will depend, in part, on successfully balancing priorities and plans. The other side of the recovery equation is funding and obtaining the right advice and technical assistance to make it happen.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Friday, 31-Aug-2007 13:16:09