Council eyes land for Lighthouse Park; other news and notes

Mayor A.J. Holloway this afternoon will be asking the City Council to approve the $576,000 purchase of beachfront property for the city’s proposed Visitors Center and Lighthouse Park project.

The purchase — $572,000 in all, or $30 a square foot – would involve the land where a BP Station once stood, which is a site just under 20,000 square feet or a half-acre and immediately north of the Biloxi Lighthouse. The site would be part of the location for the proposed park and visitors center. (To see a rendering of the center and to read background on the project, click here.)

The property purchase is one of two dozen issues on the agenda for the council’s 1:30 meeting this afternoon at City Hall.

Among the other issues: Four land-use cases, including a request for an extension of council approval of an 85-lot subdivision off Brashier Road, and equipment purchases for several city departments.

To see the complete agenda and available resolutions, click here.

News and notes

Arts celebration: A collection of the Coast’s most-notable notables – David Delk, Meggan Gray, Mike Lacy and Wayne Stephens – will join Biloxi students in “A Celebration of the Arts” Thursday at the Saenger Theater. For details on the performance, click here. click here.

School days: The calendar for 2008-09 Biloxi Public Schools year has been set by the Biloxi school board. Key dates: School begins on Aug. 7 and ends on May 28; Christmas break is from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2; and Spring Break runs from April 10 through April 17. To look at the overall calendar and milestone dates throughout the year, click here.