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THE DAILY HERAI.D
Biloxi-Gullport, Mins.. Friday. July 16, ia?2
For Bay Sf. Louis beaches
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Board to consider development plan
CYNDY .CRANFORD The B;iy Bureau Members of the Bay St. Louis Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday agreed to consider a proposal from local beachfront property owners that outlines an alternative to commercial development along the city?s beaches, although their initial reactions were negative.
I	A moratorium on beach construction was in-
j	voked last summer when the city council dis-
covered that the existing ordinance governing structures on the beach contained technical errors. City attorney Joseph W. Gcx said that as a result of the errors, the city in effect had no ordinance.
Attempts to adopt another ordinance have been halted by objections from groups such as the Bay-Wavciand Yacht Club and the American Legion, asking that their properties be excluded from building restrictions. Other beachfront owners objected to granting exceptions.
These views were expressed during a public hearing in February, after the commission was instructed by the council to rccommend an ordinance for Us consideration.
The Bay-Wavcland Beach Front Improvement Association plan, presented to the commission Tuesday, would restrict construction of hotels and condomiumiums to areatf no closer to the beach than Third Street, said Association President Ballard Argus.
The group's aim is to maintain single-family residential zoning along the beach front, to create an ?old town? central business district as a tourist attraction with public harbor facilities. and to develop commercial interests in other parts of the town, the proposal indicated.
The association's plan includes a ?concept drawing" which shows high rise hotels and cor lominiums along Third Street, approximate* ly two blocks north of the beach.	?
?What we recommend is to change the thinking to long-range planning and not think in terms of spot zoning,? said Argus.
Commissioner Dan Frederick cited problems tfcat would arise by commercial development in this area. He sa;d building north from Third Street would cut across some of the most historic parts of Bay St. Louis, displacing residents and structures on Third Street for the benefit of a few.
Traffic flow from high-rise structures would be monumental, he sa^.. ?We?d have to widen streets and add additional sewerage to accommodate it,? he said.
??We?d probably have trouble finding anyone to invest on Third Street....We need to focus attention on the beach Itself.? said Commissioner Herbert Dubuisson. ?We don?t want to enact anything to discourage investors,? he said.
??We?re working with the [Hancock County] Historical Society to preclude destroying historical areas,? said Argus. Several New Orleans developers would be interested in this area If the city had a viable plan, he said, adding that at the next meeting he would present information on other cities that had developed similar ideas.
?Within the next two to four months we're going to have to adopt something on the beachfront property.? said Commission Chairman C. C. McDonald. ?Have In mind that at the next meeting we need to give It serious consideration, even if we adopt an ordinance that
could later on be revised,? he said.
McDonald said that the consensus of opinion from public hearings on the ordinance was to leave the beach ??as is? except for the Bay-Waveland Yacht Club, the property at the comcr of U.S. 90 and Beach Boulevard (owned by New Orleans musician Pete Foutain), the central business district and the American Legion Pier.
Concerning the construction of a marina. McDonald said that groups opposed to a harbor at the American Legion pier site suggested locating one at the end of Main Street. Thi? would present a problem of having to open the drawbridges to allow boats with masts to enter and exit the Mississippi Sound or the Bay of St. Lcuis, he said.
The next meeting of the commision will be Tuesday, August 10, at 7 p.m. at the City Hall.
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