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Condos will \yin us
Dear Editor,
The reason for this letter is because of the building scheduled to take place on the beach side of the road in Clermont Harbor. The precedent has been set. Are you next?
I grew up in Bay St. Louis. I attended public school as well as private school in the Bay. I attended college at MSU where I met and married my husband of 16 years. Once my husband graduated from MSU, we moved to Huntsville, AL, where we lived for eight years.
For 6 of those years I went to Destin, FL on Memorial Day weekend with a group of friends. There are .structures on the beach side of the road there. You can’t see the beach or access the beach (except in very limited public areas) unless you’re staying in one of the complexes on the beach.
My husband was transferred to Cape Canaveral, FL in 1998. We lived there for four years.
From Cape Canaveral to Indian Harbour Beach there are structures on the beach side of the road. Again, unless you’re a tourist and staying in one of the complexes on the beach you cannot see or have access to the beach (except from public
access areas).
Currently I live in Houston, TX. I’ve lived here for the past two years.
Galveston is only about 20 minutes from my home. I just got off the phone with a Galveston resident, and she told me that there are about five hotel complexes on the beach side of the road in Galveston at the East end and West end of Seawall Drive. However, for most of your drive down Seawall Drive you are able to see the water. Tourists and residents alike have access to the beach anywhere they choose.
I certainly understand that hotels, restaurants, and shops bring in jobs and tax money to the area. I am not against progress. However, I am against destroying one of the things that makes the Mississippi Gulf Coast unique, a beautiful white sand beach that is accessible to everyone and visible from the beach drives.
Many of my classmates, as well as several friends I met in college, have returned to Bay St. Louis (and the surrounding area) to start and raise their families. These are people who have moved away, gotten a taste of “the world,” but decided to come back to the Bay because of the small
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town charm. My husband and I will be pursuing the current owners of my grandfather’s home for purchase as our retirement home. Everyone loves the small town charm of the Bay St. Louis and the surrounding Gulf Coast towns.
In closing I have two points:
1.	Building high rise hotels, condos, restaurants, and shops on the beach side of the road anywhere on the Mississippi Coast blocks the residents views and access to the beach and water. Do residents rent hotel rooms and condos in the town where they live? Of course they don’t. Enjoying our beach will be a luxury reserved for the tourists, I guess.
2.	Do the developers think that a hotel or condo complex built across the street from the beach will get no business? That is
simply not true, most especially if there are no hotels or condos to choose from on the beach side. Let these developers dredge for boat slips to be put in with boating options available for guests, but keep the structures across the street.
I love Bay St. Louis and the Mississippi coast. I have great memories of that quiet little town. If all goes as planned, my grandchildren will be visiting me in the house my grandfather built for his family in the 40s. I sure would like to be able to walk along the beach or seawall with my grandchild and watch the fish jump in the bay.
Keep the structures across the street from the water. I’ve seen what it does to the beach and the view.
Regards, Jamie Beasley (A proud member of the Larroux family)