Terra Bowling, J.D.

In Hancock County, Mississippi, plans to construct a “condo city” on Gulf Coast wetlands have caused considerable controversy. Plans for the $750 million dollar project, known as “Breezes of Paradise Bay,” include four high rise condominium towers that would accommodate shops, arcades, restaurants, and residences. The development would sharply contrast with the two small incorporated cities in the county, Bay St. Louis and Waveland, and residents have questioned the wetland fill and the impact of the development on their communities.

      In 2002, developers received a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill the wetlands at issue for the purposes of expanding Bayou Caddy Fisheries, a seafood business. However, the developers did not immediately move to fill the wetlands.

      In May 2005, the Hancock County Board of Supervisors rezoned approximately 1,000 acres of coastal wetlands (including the proposed Bayou Caddy Fisheries development) to permit commercial development surrounding the Bayou Caddy Casino.1  Subsequently, plans to expand Bayou Caddy Fisheries were replaced with plans to build the “Breezes of Paradise Bay.” In 2006, approximately 2.3 acres of wetlands at the project site were filled. The Corps, recognizing the out-of-compliance fill, required the developer to file an after-the-fact permit. The developer filed a permit application requesting to retain fill material in 1.2 acres of wetlands and restore the remaining 1.1 acres of wetlands for the purposes of the condominium construction.2 The public comment period has closed and the permit application is pending with the Corps of Engineers.

      Meanwhile, in November 2007, the Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed Hancock County’s coastal zoning decision, finding that the Board failed to meet its burden of proof that there was a substantial change in the character of the area to justify the rezoning.3 The ruling would limit the scale of “Breezes of Paradise Bay,” and, in fact, the county’s planning board recently indicated that structures higher than 12 stories would not be allowed at Bayou Caddy.4

Endnotes        
1.  The “commercial resort” designation would have allowed large-scale development, without height or density requirements.
2.  A copy of the permit is available at http://www.sam.usace.army.mil/RD/reg/PN/December/SAM-2000-2528-ALF.pdf .
3.  For a full discussion of the case, see Sarah Spigener, Mississippi Court of Appeals Reverses Coastal Zoning Decision, Water Log 27:4 (Feb. 2008).
4.  Patrick Jonsson, Why a Gulf Wetlands May Become a City, Christian Science Monitor, May 21, 2008.