Two holdover issues – requests for a zoning change to allow the Bay Village mixed-use subdivision in west Biloxi, and a measure to allow Katrina cottages throughout the city – are among the nearly 30 measures on the agenda for the City Council’s meeting next week.
Councilmembers will meet at City Hall on Tuesday afternoon at 1:30.
The Bay Village issue, where developers are seeking a zoning change, would allow a mixed-use subdivision to be situated on 28 acres of land on Pass Road in west Biloxi. The Planning Commission has recommended denial of the request, which has been postponed at two previous council meetings.Newly elected Council President Bill Stallworth is scheduled to propose an amendment to the city’s Land Development Ordinance that would classify MEMA-sponsored “Mississippi cottages” as modular construction, meaning that the once-temporary cottages could become a permanent part of neighborhoods. The measure was withdrawn from a council agenda in April.
To see the complete agenda and available resolutions for Tuesday’s meeting, click here.
School registration may provide insight into city’s recovery
Biloxi Public Schools will begin three days of student registration on Monday, and the district superintendent says the process will provide a good gauge of the city’s recovery progress.
The Biloxi public school district had 4,780 students at the end of the ’08 school year, 22 percent off its pre-Katrina figure of 6,125 students.
Dr. Paul A. Tisdale, superintendent of Biloxi Public Schools, said the rebuilding of military housing will play a key role in school enrollment.
“We think 700 or 800 military kids were lost to Katrina,” Tisdale said. “Over the next year and a half we expect to pick up 600 to 800 military dependents, and that’s where most of our loss is. Also, progress on new apartments and housing developments north of the Bay are going to play a key role in how many kids we’ll pick up.”
For answers to frequently asked questions regarding school registration, click here.
To see the two-page newspaper insert, click here.
To see the 30-second TV spot, click here
Planning to revisit issue of re-zoning of 80 acres in east Biloxi
The Biloxi Planning Commission on Thursday voted to table until Aug. 7 a recommendation from its Map and Text Committee to re-zone 80 acres in east Biloxi for casino gaming.
Commissioners — meeting the same afternoon in which the Mississippi Gaming Commission denied a request to approve the South Beach site in west Biloxi – had originally voted 7-6 against the re-zoning of beachfront land from Dukate and Kuhn streets and north to Howard Avenue, but later voted to withdraw the denial and table the issue.
Said Community Development Director Jerry Creel: “Planning Commission members said they wanted to get additional information as to the basis of the Mississippi Gaming Commission’s decision.”
The Planning Commission’s original review of the 80-acre tract was the result of a directive of the Biloxi City Council. The area also includes a site that was previously vetoed by Mayor A.J. Holloway. To read Holloway’s veto of the Tivoli proposal, click here.
The Aug. 7 meeting of the Planning Commission will be at 2 p.m. in the auditorium of the Community Development Department.
Weekend preview: Recreation celebration, Jay, Joan, community theater
The Biloxi Parks and Recreation Department joins with Main Street Biloxi to host a two-day recreation celebration, beginning this evening on the Town Green and continuing Saturday at the Biloxi Natatorium.
The two-day event is among the weekend’s entertainment offerings. Among the other attractions: Jay Leno and a martini shakedown at the Beau Rivage, Joan Rivers at the Hard Rock, and “Tom Jones” at Biloxi Little Theater.
To read more about the parks and recreation celebration, click here.
To see the overall entertainment lineup, courtesy of listings from the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, click here.
