Construction plans have been approved and a permit is ready to be issued for one of the first cases reviewed since Development Review Committee meetings resumed a couple of weeks ago.
“We are simply waiting on the contractor to come in and pick up the plans,” said Community Development Jerry Creel, referring to a project that will see a defunct car wash at Popp’s Ferry Road and Vee Street transformed into a Shipley’s Do-nut Restaurant.
Creel said renovation costs are estimated at $400,000. No word on when the new shop would open, “but we would expect them to start construction immediately after obtaining the building permit.”
The project would convert the former five-stall car wash, dormant for some time, into a Shipley’s Do-nut Restaurant that would also offer drive-through service.
It’s the first project OK’d by the Development Review Committee, where developers can get a review from several key departments in one meeting. The DRC is one of several land-use and zoning meetings that had suspended meetings during the COVID-19 crisis.
The DRC resumed meetings in May, and the Planning Commission and Architectural and Historical Review Commission meetings will resume in mid-June. All of the meetings will be conducted in the auditorium at the Community Development Department and will involve social distancing.
“We’ve said all along that we were not going to stop construction. It can be done safely,” said Creel, whose Community Development Department has issued about $10 million in construction permits over the past couple of months. “But the fact is, the DRC, Planning, and Architectural and Historical Review Commission meetings are crucial to keep things moving.”
See before and after renderings of Shipley’s
See agendas for public meetings in Biloxi
