What Next? - 5/8/2006

Land use plans get varying reactions

Bridge, Biloxi decisions concern design director

By DON HAMMACK
dthammack@sunherald.com

The Sun Herald is planning a series of reports on the Governor's Commission and its progress over the next two weeks. The series started on Sunday May 7th, and will go on until May 18th. Read each article here.

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Judging the pace of how recommendations made by the Governor's Commission on land use may have something to do with where you live.

Susan Henderson, the director of design for Placemakers, the Florida-based originators of the SmartCode, which the commission recommended be adopted to supplant traditional zoning ordinances, is pretty happy with what she's seen.

"It's not absolutely perfect response, but for that many communities and that many different political perspectives and different local needs, as a whole, Mississippi has responded very well," she said.

For instance, four of 11 cities along the Coast are on the path to adopting SmartCodes in some form or fashion. Six others are considering it.

Former Biloxi Mayor Gerald Blessey, whose law firm now deals with zoning and land use issues and who served as the land use subcommittee chairman, sees things through a different prism.

"It's kind of a checkerboard," he said. "Like so much, we're so happy with the good things but we feel kind of impatient of the slowness of the other things."

The SmartCode is the New Urbanists' answer to creating walkable communities featuring mixed-use buildings where housing at all price levels is sprinkled throughout. In some places, they will be adopted as overlays, providing alternatives to the existing zoning structure. Other places may use them in certain districts particularly hard hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Henderson said her disappointments center on the U.S. 90 bridge over the Bay of St. Louis, which they considered too big, and some decisions Biloxi has made in its planning.

"We'd really hoped for a re-establishment of an East Biloxi village, which obviously isn't going to happen," she said. "But of course there's been a lot of pressure from casinos and developers. You can sympathize with (Mayor) A.J. (Holloway), but at the same time you'd wish it had gone in a little bit of a different direction."

The commission recommended the CSX Transportation rail line right of way be acquired to build an avenue with light rail. That idea has morphed into putting a new U.S. 90 through Harrison County in that footprint, another disappointment for Henderson.

Blessey said he's excited by the possibilities, although he's anxious in that area as well.

"The railroad is so close you can taste it," he said.

One recommendation remains hanging from the vine ready to be picked, according to Blessey. The report called for the state Legislature to create the Mississippi Renaissance Corporation to help link residents, developers and governments together to redevelop destroyed areas.

For instance, a group of neighbors could pool their land together to be developed to create a larger project they could live in a part of, thus helping recreate capital for those who lost so much.

Blessey said some developers are looking into doing it, but if one were to take the leap, it might cause a domino effect and entice others to join.

"New casinos would be ideal partners to marry up with a neighborhood and develop a new neighborhood," he said.

The state Legislature also fell well short of adopting more stringent statewide building codes. Eventually, it settled on watered-down legislation that affected the coastal counties, but provided an opt-out clause.

There is also a study commission that is supposed to make a recommendation to the egislature next year.

posted by Steve Howard @ 4:48 PM