City to outline east Biloxi Revitalization Plan

East Biloxi residents and business owners will get a chance to hear the ideas for revitalizing their neighborhoods in a public meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Biloxi Community Center.

The meeting will cap a day of information sharing with several focus groups, including key landowners, business owners, city boards, developers, architects, engineers and others who have an interest in east Biloxi.

Using local, state and federal funding and grants totaling about $15 million, the city is embarking on a three-year program that will help upgrade existing affordable housing and create new affordable housing in east Biloxi and redevelop the Main Street area. The work will be done in tandem with the Biloxi Housing Authority’s $35 million Hope VI project now underway.

The Enterprise Foundation, a nationally recognized group that has helped revitalize neighborhoods in several leading U.S. cities, will help formulate the city plan and assist in securing other funding.

In his State of the City address in January, Mayor A.J. Holloway said he expected a plan to be implemented by July that would take a comprehensive approach to revitalizing east Biloxi.

“In order for an economic development initiative to work on Main Street, you must improve the quality of neighborhoods,” Holloway said. “You must improve the existing low- to moderate-income households. You must create new affordable housing. You must create the economic power in order to attract commercial and retail endeavors to east Biloxi.”