November 18th meeting uh to order.

The chair will entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

So moved.

So moved by Mr.

Creel.

Do we have a second?

Second by Mr.

Tisdale.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Mayor's report.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

President.

See a lot of smiling faces out there.

Can you hear me now?

Very good.

I think a little bit on the agenda.

Frank Bardot I was supposed to do the pitch all along, so Frank's not going to do this.

But I'm gonna give you, you know, return.

I'm a little jet-lagged today, but we did return from London.

Uh in uh first slide somewhere.

But all last week we were uh had talked a little bit about this uh entity that's called GovPro, which is made up of 12 of the uh you know best of class um uh public entities that the legislature has actually uh allowed us to do, where uh using you know the best in class and some of the mitigation that we've done since the storm to enable uh the very best premiums that we uh uh can be afforded based on some of the uh mitigation that we've done with roofs and and uh different uh things that are done.

But it's called as soon as the technology gets up, it's called GovPro, and it's made up of of uh entities, 12 entities, 12 best in class entities, uh school districts, uh City of Gulfport, City of Biloxi, Harrison County Schools, uh inclusive of Memorial Hospital.

They're the biggest single uh entity, but Beluxin Gulfport Biloxi, inclusive of uh the uh Shucker Stadium, which is a big ticket item, and and the Gulf Board inclusive of the uh aquarium.

So total value of insured value is 2.68 billion.

Now there you go, that's the first one.

But uh Frank with Gallagher and as well as Will uh Cooper from uh uh the brokerage that put this together.

Next slide.

Okay, and that's made up, as I said, of uh the best in class entities, and it was legislation allowed this group to come together.

I don't know if you can read this uh too well, but you know the statutes.

This is a creation of the you know, a creature of the legislature, and that gives us the ability to you know go out and meet with underwriters, and these particular underwriters were you know in and around Lloyd's of London and in London where pretty much the whole insurance world uh takes place.

You can go to the next slide.

But that's you know who we are.

This is part of the pitch we were doing to I think we did 15 uh of the uh sessions, 45 minutes each, and all the underwriters mostly from Lloyd's of London and in and around that, but it's made up of just these five foot coastal counties.

So that's gonna put us in a situation where we're not expanding to any other states and and kind of focused on some of the things we've done, the restorations that have been done, even to the Barrier Islands.

So that was a big part of the presentation.

Go to next slide too.

So uh the the uh as I said, the membership is made up of course uh, you know, City of Biloxi, City of Gupport, and Guffort School District, Hankon County, Board of Supervisors, Hancock County Ports and Harbor, Hancock County Utility Authority, Hancock County Water and Sewer, Harrison County Board of Supervisors, Stone County Board of Education, Mississippi Coast Transportation Authority, Harrison County School District, and by the way, you can't read that, but uh represented by Dr.

Michael Weaver, who's his younger brother.

So, but we did a good part of the presentation together, as well as Memorial Hospital.

So together we made some pretty good pitches, and goes to the last slide.

That's uh to the right-hand side, you can't read it very well, but that's those are underwriters from Lords of London.

Who wrote the insurance for the Titanic?

Anyway, uh we're not we're not part of that Titanic picture.

We hope we're much better off.

But it was a very interesting uh set of information, and we were questioning it in every step.

So each each one of these underwriters had aspects of why should we why are you a better bet than just the general population?

So the whole of thought was as we grow and our insurance value goes, and I think uh not only was just the reduction, we're expecting about a half a million dollars reduction in our property insurance, just property insurance, uh uh uh premiums.

But it would too along the lines of just keeping instead of a lot of waves in cost coverage.

So we want a long-term 10-year, 20-year outlook on just the stabilization of these rates, which every year, budget time insurance is the biggest thing, whether it's hospital or uh property or hospitalization or property insurance.

So, but that's in a nutshell uh what we did, and we did it pretty pretty intensively, and uh it was was I learned a lot there, and I think it's gonna be you know, really reflective of our premiums and our long-term on aspect of insurance.

So that's my story, and uh I'm sticking to it.

But uh I think we have uh uh a presentation in Wayne in Councilman Grace's report, but that concludes my report unless I've forgotten something.

All right, very good.

That concludes my report, Mr.

President.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh any departmental reports.

There being none, we'll move on to council reports.

Mr.

Gray.

Good afternoon.

Um like to call Mr.

Kenny Foreman, Mr.

Jones up, went to Triton Foundation.

Um while they're getting set up for their presentation.

We got the seaman group came out and they volunteered to rake up um the Claire Hornsby Park, and they got 75 bags of leaves out of there.

A great job.

They spent most of the morning getting that out of there.

Public works.

They they've doing a great job doing cleaning up the streets.

Parks and wrecks went in there.

Jamie, sorry they had to get so many bags out of there, but the park needed it.

The neighbors came through, and I mean, everybody was was so glad that that park got cleaned up and they everybody loved it.

On December the 18th, 19th, and 20th, we got Christmas on the avenue.

I'm hoping the the small businesses come together and help this event really grow because this is what Biloxi really needs.

And this is just not for the businesses down in that area.

This is for all business in Biloxi.

This is what we need.

And we'll go ahead and turn it over to Mr.

Kenny Foreman.

Wayne, thank you.

Uh, good afternoon, and thank you all for allowing us to speak.

My name is Kenny Foreman.

I'm with the Trident Foundation.

We are the 501c3 arm of the crew of Neptune.

You may recall I was here recently.

We discussed uh a partnership with you guys for the smoke in the coast, which by the way was a tremendous success.

We want to thank you all first of all for for partnering with us on that.

Uh it was both a success financially as well as a success uh with the number of teams that we had that came this year.

It's an annual event now, and we'll be back again next year to talk to you about it then.

So that leads us into our next event, which we're proposing bringing back uh power boat racing to Biloxi uh to the Mississippi Sound.

Um we'll go over this proposal with you very quickly, but we've all recalled having smoke uh smoking the sound and and uh power boat racing in years past, but it's been a while since we've had them back.

We can go to the next slide.

So, real quickly, we'll we'll cover the vision and overview of what the Gulf Coast Grand Prix is going to look like.

Uh, we'll tell you about the venue selection, uh the a couple of logistics uh with the event itself.

We'll also cover briefly the event schedule so you'll know exactly where when when and where we're looking at doing this stuff, and then what benefits is it to the city?

The next slide, please.

So if we see what type of votes.

We move to the next slide.

Obviously, this is very very exciting stuff.

This is closed course racing.

Uh, you may recall some of what we call the cigarette boats or whatnot, uh, that used to run up and down the sound.

This is going to be a totally different type of event for the city.

You can go to the next slide for me.

So this is really a reintroduction to a classic sport.

Most folks in this room probably aren't aware of the fact that boat racing and Biloxi has been going on since the mid-1850s.

But it's been quite a while since we've had them here.

So we're bringing them back.

This is going to be a very high-speed event.

And it will be something new for the coast.

We anticipate making this an annual event, but we got to get started first.

That's pretty quick for for an event, but we've got the experience of putting stuff together like this.

I'm not going to bore you with this stuff.

So why partner with us?

We've partnered with with the city council in the past.

Everything that we do stays local.

There's not a person on our committee or involved with us who gets paid a dime for any of the work that we do.

Every bit of this will be kept, any profits may will be kept right here in the community.

We do things like disaster relief.

So those are the type things that we do for the community.

We get nothing in our pockets for this stuff.

So we're just a natural fit uh to partner with the city because we all have the share shared same vision, and that is betterment of our communities.

So the venue selection, and you can move to the next one.

Our proposal is we're going to have this, and we're going to finalize this stuff on Friday, but the course itself will be uh behind Harris Great Lawn, from about where the launch is uh east to behind Margaritaville.

It'll be a closed course, be a similar to what you might consider a NASCAR-type event on the water.

Um the beauty of where this venue is, first of all, we can we can accommodate heavy crowds.

Go to the next next slide for me.

Great infrastructure.

It's obviously one of the most beautiful places on the Gulf Coast.

Um, but more importantly, the guest experience.

Our everyone attending the race will be able to see every bit of the race from start to finish.

There's not a bad seat in the house.

Uh so you're not gonna see boats take off and then wonder what's going on down a race course because it's all gonna happen right before you.

Next slide, please.

Obviously, uh having the hotels right there.

We've got Golden Nugget, we've got Margaretaville, which by the way is very excited to bring this event uh to the coast.

We also have Harris who's on board with us as well.

So we've got a uh a venue that's perfect for bringing out of town visitors, and we look for this to definitely boost and increase uh community and uh bring some folks to the area who maybe haven't ever heard of us before.

Go to the next slide.

So quick event schedule.

We'll do a Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Um of the big events will be Friday evening.

We'd like to do uh the basically an old-fashioned Faeodough street dance, but it will also include meet and greet with the drivers.

We'll have the boats present, so uh you'll be able to take pictures and get autographs and all that sort of stuff.

We'll have live entertainment.

Um we plan to do that at the point, point cadet.

Full full racing schedule on Saturday and Sunday with awards on Sunday evening or Sunday afternoon, rather.

And the next slide.

We'll do a vendor village.

Uh we'll also have VIP seating uh in two specialized areas that we've got proposed at the moment.

Um we're also discussing a local boat show.

So local boat vendors will have their aircraft on site.

Uh all of this will be free of charge, of course, to the public.

But it's gonna help raise funds, away uh excuse me, raise awareness for the event that we've got going on, and then of course the live entertainment all weekend long.

Next slide, please.

So, what are the benefits and how are we gonna fund this?

Next slide.

Benefits are gonna be the fact that we're bringing, like I said, folks to the coast who may have never even been here before.

We've got racers that'll be from as far away as California or up to New York.

Uh these are professionals, they're on a circuit.

Um, this will be actually the first race of the season for this circuit that we've chosen.

Benefits also include financial to our local businesses.

We expect restaurants to be very busy.

Obviously, we're gonna have nights booked that maybe wouldn't normally book for the time of year.

Being in April is a kick off to uh tourism season for us here on the coast.

And then finally, hopefully we're gonna be able to raise a few funds for the foundation.

Everything is completely tax deductible and will all be used uh right here in the community.

So I can open up for any questions that you'll have.

Go ahead.

Yeah, thank you.

I'm sorry I didn't catch your name.

I apologize.

My last name is Foreman.

All right, Kenny.

Foreman's here in Biloxi.

Yes, sir.

All right.

All right.

Nice to meet another foreman.

Can't swing a dead cat without hitting the foreman in Biloxi.

Um you're aware that the city has a special event permit process.

We do.

Correct.

Okay, good deal.

Just get it done early.

Yes, sir.

All right.

Thank you, Kenny.

Nice to meet you.

Pleasure to meet you as well.

Any other comments, questions?

I have a comment.

Speaking of this right here, looking around, I see I have a family member who's a national champion boat uh racer, uh, while he walls in the audience.

That is back when these boats used to race on Back Bay.

He's one I wonder if it's not one or two national champions, I think he has on his belt.

So uh I'm sure he's now know why he's here today.

Yeah.

He's actually part of our council.

Yeah, we we feel like we've built a pretty solid team.

Wally would definitely be one of the one of the founders of this team to make sure that it's gonna be done right.

And when you say Wally, I want to give him credit.

Uh Wally came up with some of the thoughts and and and uh at the War Market Planning Commission right while a little while a few months ago, but it's been a sort of a collective effort to see what we got to do, when we have to do it, and what things we have to accomplish.

But it's certainly thousands of room nights over we talked about seven or eight hundred people related to the actually boating event that comes back, and I think it the excitement is way up there with regard to coming to our coast at that particular time of year.

The winds are gonna be dying down.

So I think it's uh a real good thing.

We just need to put the logistics together and put a few of the dollars in sponsorships because I think it's the timing is perfect.

Uh and we don't really have a lot of conflicts uh with uh the amount of services we have to provide because it's pretty much self-contained and and uh parking and some of those challenges.

I think we've kicked around a number of uh combinations, and I think we're in good shape.

But do I appreciate Kenny and Tryden for you know doing the things that you've done, which you've already accomplished, but uh we're after the same same goal is to make things better.

And uh uh from a financial standpoint, this is the best uh uh opportunity to do the best good for uh you know it's gonna take a lot of energy and a lot of money, but I think we're we're up to it.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Kenny.

Sir, thank you.

That's all I have.

All right.

Mr.

Marshall.

All right, uh we've been in discussions uh for a while now, basically since I got on the board with about the C D BG funds and the use of the C D BG funds.

That's the community development block grant funds, and uh we've made a lot of headway.

Um we're in point, a little bit behind, I believe, but we are on point.

Uh one of the programs we're working on putting together with the city is um uh home repair.

Uh mainly gonna try.

I like to try and concentrate on seniors if possible.

Um we have an item on the agenda today in order to vote that in order to get it going, possibly for uh uh the real near future.

Um I was uh blessed to be with uh Mr.

Shoot Maker and award seven meeting.

Uh I got to meet some of the lovely people award seven and had a lot of discussions and a lot of talks, and it made me feel very, very much at home as they as they they were taught to do.

Um we have the greater economic go to Biloxi Economic Development Foundation.

Uh they came through this council in order to have to receive funds for uh facade grants.

It was a um matching uh grant and the funds that we uh forwarded to them.

Uh they matched it with Mississippi Power.

And the Fat Grant program is going to be working in um along the uh pass road, east side of the patch road, all the way through east part of Belexico going down division street.

That is important to the people in East Biloxi because all the facade grant programs in the last um 10 years have historically not touched any of the businesses on Division Street or the south, the north side of our uh main street.

Um this grant serves that purpose.

It reaches those businesses there.

They've been neglected for many, many years.

And this is their opportunity to to do something to their buildings, fix their buildings, and let them know that we are as a city.

We are we we appreciate them sticking with us.

If any business in any party town had a reason to pack up and go, they did.

Of all the things that they've gone through, they've watched all their roads get torn up, they've watched Katrina come in and tear up their businesses.

They're so strong and resilient, they're sticking with us.

Those that have not been able to stay want to come back because they love East Beloxi.

And we're gonna have to find a way for them to come back.

Uh I've also been in touch with CTA.

They are still working on the new signage.

Uh they have to go through a process before they just started driving the bus up and down the street to run timing on the routes and things like that.

They are in there in that process, but for the last since the last 12, 15 years, we're gonna first time the last 12, 50 years or longer, we're gonna have uh CTA coming up and down Division Street, uh at least 12 stops, and those are gonna be just for the right people who needs to help the transportation to go out to get the jobs that they need, get to the doctor and things like that.

And that would conclude my report, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Marshall, Mr.

Nell.

Um I just want to thank uh engineering for uh striping Hiller Park.

They're actually out there striping it right now.

So if somebody goes through there tonight, they're gonna think they're in a highway, nice highway.

And um, any updates on Southern Avenue and Camillia Street.

Well, I went out there myself yesterday and talked to them to guy.

And they're they're they're pretty well getting it done.

It won't it won't it won't be too much longer.

I just want to tell that for the people who live out there.

And uh, and then it's uh far as uh broadwater property.

We're meeting with Mr.

Lewis out there this week, and I talked to him on the phone, and uh they're gonna cut it one more time for the winter, and then you're gonna see some probably some good cleanup this winter, a little bit more than you think.

That that's closed my report.

Thank you, Mr.

Creel.

All right.

So let's see, on November the 5th, we had our first beautification commission meeting.

Uh thank the administration uh Ms.

Uh Peter and uh Rick for for uh showing up.

We had all four members that have been in confirmed uh in attendance and uh it was good discussion.

Uh we we discussed some low-hanging food as far as uh adopt the meetings uh that that program's already is currently in place with the forms.

So we would just that that would be something that we could start um easy with.

Uh talked about the fountain at White Avenue and uh a certain person sitting to my left who has some influence at the White House Hotel, possibly adopting that fountain.

Um no, not you, Mike.

Uh but so the next meeting is uh actually tomorrow morning uh at 1030.

So I would encourage uh my fellow councilman that uh if you can't attend to attend and those of you that have uh still some pending confirmations to uh let's uh to to speed that process up uh and and so these guys can get uh get rolling.

Uh I know a lot hasn't been said about Christina Johnson up here, but um with Ports and Harbors, but I want to thank her for her attention to detail when it comes to the harbors and not only that to the causeway, uh her oversight on the projects that she's over uh goes goes a long way.

And Jamie, your attention to details well benefiting her out there and working with her as well as um with the dog park.

I I do appreciate that.

Chief Miller, thank you, and um uh Officer DeBeck for your follow-up on the uh speeding on uh Sunkis Country Club Road and the attention to detail there as well.

Uh that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr.

Creel.

Mr.

Tuesday.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um Chief, I'm hearing at the Hibernia St.

Patrick's Day parade, the route is being changed from last year, or I I'm just trying to confirm whether it is or not, and the reasoning behind it.

You don't have to I mean if you can get me something explaining that, that would be fine.

Yeah, but I can tell you the reasoning behind it was go ahead, sure.

We use Last Man Power.

Okay.

And I don't I don't know what the I don't recall what the route was last year, but it's the route this year is gonna be different than last year, correct?

It'll it'll come uh straight down straight down Howard Avenue.

Uh at Holloway North.

Okay.

If if somebody could get me last year's route and this year's route, just so I can get information to people.

Thank you, sir.

Um the other thing is uh Mr.

Weaver, if we could get a con I know that we we have a procedure for folks who live in neighborhoods where they're concerned about speeding, and I know other council members from time to time.

We all get requests for speed bumps or what they call traffic calming, I guess, structures.

If you could get me a a list of what that procedure is.

So if you're getting with the chief on that, we'll get that written up to you and present it to you.

And again, obviously all of it will go back to the committee to take a look at, and he'll also make certain that at the end of this, the city is still liable for anything that happens on those speed bumps or those calming traffic.

So those are concerns in which the committee will take a look at at that point in time.

It would be great if you could include those concerns.

I know I I don't know about everybody else up here on the on the council, but uh probably get a couple of requests a year.

And I just want to be sure we're consistent, but get accurate information to my constituents.

Thank you.

That concludes my comments.

Thank you, Mr.

Tuesday.

Mr.

Shoemaker.

Yes, sir.

Just a couple of things.

Uh I did have a Ward 7 meeting last week.

I wasn't on all the way.

Thank you.

I did have a Ward 7, uh, my second one last week.

It went great.

Great turnout.

Um, I think it was very informative.

I got a lot of great feedback from the ones that were able to show up.

I appreciate Councilman Marshall's comments.

And not to be corny, but really we do have great people throughout the city, but in Ward 7 also.

So I appreciate those comments.

Uh secondly and lastly, the Christmas parade, we'll market Christmas parade is December 13th, I believe 2 o'clock.

Uh more information will be coming out soon, but it's going to be as far as I know, the same route as previous years.

We'll start at shortcut in Woolmarket Road, run west to John Lee Road right there at Toronto's, turn north, end at the school, and immediately afterwards there'll be a um little event at the uh in the gym at the school, Santa Claus will be there for the kids.

I think some cookies and snacks.

Please come out.

It's a great time.

It's gotten bigger, I think, every year.

And if you want to ride and participate in the actual parade itself, it's free.

Golf carts, you can pull a boat, a trailer, a vehicle, pretty much anything, honestly.

So please, there's a um there'll be a registration form.

You can contact me, that's fine, or contact uh Parks and Rick.

And that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Schumacher.

Um got a few things.

Um first uh I want to point out and uh thank Dan Quavis uh and the uh Harris County Board of Supervisors for their support uh from a recent interloco agreement.

I've reported on it in past uh uh meetings, but they they did complete uh the paving of Oak Ridge Place.

It hasn't been paved for quite some time.

Not only did they pave the road, they also fixed some some of the drainage.

There's a major drainage issue at the end of the road that uh we'll address uh when we get a little bit more funding for that.

Uh but the residents uh we're thrilled.

Uh I walked uh the neighborhood the other day and spoke to several of the residents, and uh they're real happy uh that we're able to accomplish that.

Um also uh before this meeting I had the pleasure, as I usually do on Tuesdays, of uh enjoying a roast beef bow boy from Rena's uh Delhi, the Polovich uh family.

Uh they'll be closing Thursday after 35 years of serving the citizens of uh Biloxi.

And uh, I've enjoyed the food there and I've enjoyed those uh ladies that uh have worked that little restaurant, and it's it's really been a little iconic restaurant and a little gym for Biloxi.

So uh all the best to them and their retirement and whatever they choose to do.

Also, this morning, uh the attraction association uh presented the Don Jacobs uh tourism award posthumously to uh Mr.

Billy Creel.

His son sits here to my right.

Uh quite emotional.

Uh but it was uh really special uh to see some of the uh his friends, his family, and uh supporters at that event.

Uh as uh Jamie uh kind of alluded to in the meeting uh after 24 years, uh he still has influence and people still remember him vividly uh for his accomplishments.

Uh uh his his signature uh laughter uh and just his overall influence on a lot of people.

And uh so congratulations to your family, uh Jamie.

Um I'm gonna address another issue.

Um course my name's been in the news a little bit uh associated with uh some controversy, and I know there's some uh sites out there that kind of put on the mask of uh sarcasm, they want to call it.

Uh sometimes it's outright lies.

I don't think the mayor got in a wreck.

I don't think we put any tolls in place, but it that's okay.

Free speech is free speech, and and anyone should have the right uh for free speech.

Um sometimes it's sad when people have talent that they use those talents uh for what they try to say is sarcasm when it's when it's lies and deceits, but that's okay.

Um I I do want to say this.

And uh, you know, I watched the our our journalism and our media outlets kind of pick up the story.

I don't know if they did their uh homework and got all the details.

Uh they may feel that they did, but I I don't believe there's any conflict of interest.

Uh the Mississippi Hotel and Lodging Association, that's a key word, lodging association, represents all lodging, including short-term rentals, casinos, hotels, and attractions, and we advocate uh for the success and welfare of all lodging entities, providing valuable information and data.

The Hotel and Lodging Association wants to ensure lodging is paying tourism taxes required by state law that we use to attract and bring in more visitors to our beautiful Biloxi.

My voting record shows I've approved more requests for conditional use request than any other councilman.

Any one the numbers?

Um there's 483 short-term rentals.

Did you know that the last 10 years this council has voted on 46 conditional use short-term rentals?

Let me say that again.

There's 483 short-term rentals because most are used by right.

Forty-six in the last 10 years have come before this council.

I've voted for 34 of those short-term conditional use applications.

I voted against nine.

And I abstained from three.

Short-term rentals.

They are a lodging establishment that I represent.

And when I use the term we, I use the word we in the term of lodging.

We we want to see tourism thrive.

And um I've done that for quite some time.

Of course, uh, one other tidbit, and I they said they pulled something off the LinkedIn, is that I have 25 years uh experience in the hospitality industry.

It's not exactly accurate.

I I have 35 years.

I just haven't updated that page because it might sound make me sound a little older than it than I want to be, but you know, that's okay.

Um I'm not gonna apologize for my family seafood legacy, my pro-tourism engagement, uh, my involvement with Keysler Air Force Base serving as honorary commander, not once, but twice and my tenure as a public servant.

I have a lot more in the tank and pray I earn the confidence of every Biloxian to do even more for a city that is special in all our hearts and our souls.

With that, I'll conclude my report.

Ms.

President, I'd like to say one thing I forgot to recognize our former Ward 7 councilman, but now I've warned Supervisor Ward 5, Supervisor District Ford 5.

Nathan Ballots in the back.

I see his smiling face.

Thank you.

Welcome and welcome.

Thank you for everything you've done for us.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Welcome, Nathan.

All right, we're we're gonna move on to the uh public hearing or um that's part of our public agenda.

Um but but before the clerk reads uh item A, I just want to set some guidelines.

Uh we're gonna ask you.

I apologize for the interruption.

I believe the court reporter just stepped out for a second.

Is there any way we could wait for her?

Possibly.

Sure.

Thank you.

Sure.

We'll go ahead and start with uh citizens' comments and we'll come back uh to that.

She'll be right back.

I think she'll be back in a minute.

Right.

Just what I heard.

She'll be one minute.

We'll give her one minute.

Since we're right here and we have a minute.

Supervisor Nathan Barrett, thank you for uh your assistance on Patricia Place.

You guys did a phenomenal job out there, and uh the residents out there certainly uh appreciate it.

I think we would be called order.

Of course.

All right.

A little bit of housekeeping on the public hearing.

Here's how the the House rules are gonna go.

We're gonna have opening remarks by Mr.

Jerry Creel for a couple of minutes.

That'll be followed by 10 minutes uh for the appellate.

Um after those 10 minutes, we'll have 15 minutes uh for the opposition.

And then after the opposition speaks, we'll have a five-minute rebuttal.

And then after the five-minute uh rebuttal, we'll have a brief QA by any of the council members that want to ask Mr.

Creel, the appellant, or the uh opposition any questions.

So uh would the clerk read the uh policy agenda uh or is that necessary?

Okay, go ahead.

Public agenda, excuse me.

Public hearing to consider an appeal filed by Michael and Valerie Patale requesting reversal of the planning commission's decision to approve the removal of 27 protected trees upon lot twenty-three of Hawk Creek subdivision.

Mr.

Creel, opening remarks.

Just to uh kind of give you an overview of how we got where we are here today.

You'll know the background on what's happening.

Um this is a piece of property, it's at the corner of Shore Crest and West Oak Lawn.

It's about 21.8 acres in size.

Now the appeal today is just about the trees.

It's not about the roads or the drainage or anything like that.

It's just about trees and the tree process.

Proposed Hawk Creek subdivision is zoned uh RS 10, which is considered low density single family residential, 10,000 square foot lots.

Phase one is already being built.

It has 22 lots that face Shorecrest and West Oaklaw.

Phase two would be behind that area uh back in there, and if you're if you've seen the topo back there, you can see that the topo kind of goes back and then drops off uh down to the rear, which means that that property would have to be built up in order to uh fill this subdivision.

The uh preliminary plat, because it was already zoned RS 10, the preliminary plat went before the planning commission on April the 17th of this year and was approved 11 to 3 by the planning commission that it met all of the standards for uh RS10 zoning.

Now the site plan for the project has been approved subject to the approval of this tree removal that we're talking about today.

Um the application was submitted to the tree committee for review uh and approval.

Uh the tree committee actually went out to walk the property after it got cleared so that they had a walking path out there.

They were able to walk the property, came back, reviewed the survey that was provided by the developer, and they voted for zero two to approve the site.

Uh from there in October set on October the 17th, it was submitted to the planning commission for a public hearing to remove 27 protected trees.

Uh you might hear an argument today about well, it's only supposed to be 26 and it was 27.

I made that change before we advertised it in the newspaper uh because one of those trees was a double tree, and I didn't want there to be any confusion about it.

So we added the tree.

It was advertised properly.

Uh subdivision developments, as I've mentioned to the previous councils, I haven't uh I've hadn't had the opportunity to discuss that with some of the newer council members, but a subdivision development is different than say a commercial building going in because you with a commercial building, if the topo is correct, you basically build a building and connect to the existing utilities and you move on from there.

But with a subdivision, you have to do a lot of underground infrastructure installation, and you have to do a lot of reshaping of the topo of the ground.

And in this case, it would there would be significant topo, which is the reason that so many of these trees are having to be removed.

Your drainage has to be installed so that your after-development runoff doesn't exceed your pre-development runoff.

You have to install water lines and sewer lines, and as you know, if you're in the construction and around construction, those lines, you can't make them zigzag.

They have to flow a certain way, so you have to do a lot more of that.

Uh your roads, your street lighting, and your other utilities all have to go in.

Because of the extensive grading that's required along uh I-10, uh, the I-10 property lines, a number of the trees will have to be removed uh from that location for that very purpose because they're having to build up the topo back there in order to make the drainage work correctly.

Uh they're removing 27 protected trees, but sometimes it gets this gets lost in the story.

They are saving 43.

So uh and they're required to replace at uh at two to one mitigation.

So for every tree they take down, they have to plant to or they have to pay entire tree bank the equivalent of two trees, which means that they would have to either plant or pay for 54 trees.

And we have uh requested that that be protected trees that they put in, not just uh other types of trees.

So 73 trees now, 27 being removed.

That means they mitigate with 54.

So we have 73 trees out there now, and after the development happens, there will be a hundred trees either on the property or paid for by the developer.

The developer has submitted his protected tree survey as required by the tree ordinance.

Uh it was prepared by their certified arborist.

I have a copy of it here.

And he has agreed, if required, to plant cedar trees or other protected trees along I-110 right-of-way to provide additional buffering.

This recommendation actually came from the neighbors who attended the tree committee meeting that day.

They asked if the developer would be willing to plant cedar trees along the property line back there to provide that buffer from I-110.

And the tree committee in their vote actually made that one of the conditions of the approval that it would they would plant cedar trees or protected trees along that property line.

Um the trees along the with the houses are going to provide additional buffering anyway.

I understand that these houses all have foam insulation all throughout, which provides a lot of uh sound buffering from I-10.

The developer has also agreed to adjust the loop entrance road to the west in order to save a live oak that's been there.

There is a live oak tree at the entrance to one this loop that goes through the heart of the subdivision.

And years ago, someone hung an anchor up in that tree, and I think we have a picture of it up here.

Um so when I was meeting with Mr.

Birch, who is the uh the representative for Meritage today, I asked him if they would be willing to adjust that road coming in to save that tree because it has some history behind it.

He willingly agreed to do that.

Hopefully, we have the picture so you can see what that looks like.

Um they have already endured substantial cost here because they've had to provide their protected tree survey, uh, which we had to look at at DRC and the and the tree committee meeting.

They've received uh their uh Corps of Engineer permit, again, a significant cost.

Uh that's for mitigating the reference.

They've also uh received their uh Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality uh large construction notice of intent because the project is over five acres, and they've done their drainage calculations for post and pre.

And at the Planning Commission hearing, uh our city engineer was there, Miss Lebatard, and she uh acknowledged that they had worked with her all through the preparation of what was going on here.

They had worked with the engineering department.

Again, this this appeal today is about the tree proposal only.

Uh they followed the steps as prescribed by the tree ordinance.

Uh today we have the chairperson of the tree committee here, Susan Peterson.

If you have questions for her, we also have our certified consulting arborist that the city uses to go out and review these.

Both of them have walked the property and looked at what's there, and they'll be happy to step up and answer any questions you may have.

And uh so an appeal was filed or uh to bring this from the planning commission to the city council, and that's what brings us here today.

Thank you, Mr.

Creel.

We'll start with uh the appellate.

Ten minutes, good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Valerie Patala, my husband Michael Patales there.

Um, and I want to tell you that my husband and I have lived in Eagle Point for 27 years.

Um, and we do love it there.

And um the first thing I want to say is that we are not against development.

What we are for is responsible development, which follows the law.

And in this case, laws have not been followed uh correctly.

Things have not been done in the order that they should have been done.

Um, and because I am not so great at public speaking, I have asked someone else to come up here and speak for me.

Um I would like to bring up Jared Fusco to speak for me.

Afternoon uh again, City Council.

I know we've met before, but I'm Jared Fosco for the record.

Um I want to start out with just some simple things.

Uh first off, let's talk about what a protected tree is.

I I know three of you have seen this many times before, but we have four new council members.

So um there's some confusion in and it's it's one that's understood in the general public that protected trees are just live oak trees, um, your uh southern rags and your Cypress trees.

However, um that's only once they get eight inches or larger.

The other thing that a lot of people don't understand is that uh any tree that is not exempt tree can become a protected tree if it reaches 16 inches in size.

The only trees that are exempt are pine tallow and water oak.

Um in this case, this tree permit when it came to uh the tree committee, uh it had three black tupelo and still has it on there, and one turkey oak.

And those, if you look at the diagram are over 16 inches in size.

So we're not talking about 26 trees.

We're not talking about 27 trees, we're actually talking about 31 trees at this time that are on that tree permit.

Those are required to be on there and are required to be reviewed by the tree committee.

When the tree committee received the permit request, uh they're supposed to receive everything in the application with it at that time.

In fact, what the ordinance actually says, and this is really pertinent based on something uh Jerry just noted, is that when a tree permit is submitted, it must be submitted with a completed application, and included in that is uh a statement showing you know how the trees not proposed for removal are supposed to be protected, that wasn't included.

A statement identifying the reason for the removal of these protected tree, that wasn't included.

Uh a replacement mitigation plan.

Now I want to focus a lot on that one.

Uh, when we had the grouch oak tree that you commonly hear about for Chick-fil-A, and you have the Moffat Road trees, uh, in both cases, uh the developers submitted a site plan that contained also where they were going to plant the mitigation trees in particular, and exact markings in the map and where that was going to be.

That product was never provided, even if it came united today, it wouldn't matter, was never provided to the tree committee and never provided to the planning commission.

There was just conjecture of eh, we recommend that they plant a certain amount of trees, but there was no map, no official documentation, none of that existed.

And in the authority and review process in the ordinance, which by the way was attached with the appeal, it specifically says the following all applications for tree permits shall be submitted to the Department of Community Development and reviewed for completeness by the director of community development and the city arborists, which just so happens to be the same person right now, uh, who will then forward the application to the Biloxi tree committee, and it specifically says an application for a tree permit shall be filed with, and so the application is not just the application form, the application is all the documents that come with it.

That was never submitted to the tree committee.

And then on top of that, the the permit itself, the original one, was as Jerry Krill confirmed, was a site plan from 23rd December 2024, and that's what the tree committee saw.

Well, sure, I understand that he's saying it got advertised out uh to public between the recommendation of the tree committee and then when it went to the planning commission, and somehow that meets the law.

But even if I were to buy that and say it did, there's another problem, which is that in the ordinance it says that if the recommendation of the tree committee and the recommendation, or rather the approval of the planning commission don't match, uh the director of community development has to send it to the mayor.

And because the tree committee didn't have the correct site plan, it's impossible for the recommendation of the tree committee to match what the planning commission approved.

It it's impossible.

So let's just assume that Jerry Creel did the right thing.

Then Mr.

Mayor, uh I assume at this point that you must have approved this, otherwise we wouldn't be here.

So I I I guess that's the stance we have.

So we're here right now, the mayor approved of this.

Um, and so that's where we are.

But then we get back to the cedar trees again that were approved.

Um, okay, so that's a recommendation that can't even be made.

So that's what the planning commission made.

Um, and we already know that that can't be the case, which we've admitted, it has to be a protected tree, it has to be a live oak or a southern mig or a cypress, but it certainly can't be cedar trees, and I I don't even know how we got this far.

Like, why are we here today?

We ever we knew this when we had the great choke tree.

We knew this when we had Moffat Road.

Everybody knows that they have to be replaced with protected trees.

So why are we here?

I I I can't, you know.

I actually got asked to do this on Sunday.

I had no plans to speak in front of you.

In fact, I hate being here right now.

Um I'm I'm sick of tired talking about trees, especially about the law.

They shouldn't even have to be here today.

This is it's not legal, not even remotely close to legal.

And then on top of it, the I'm not even I haven't even gotten into the uh the preliminary plat, right?

So that got approved, sure, understood.

The preliminary plat gives them authority to pull a public works permit.

Um, then they can build their roads.

And I understand if you have to do some grading, but that would be part of the public works permit, is grading the properly along the roads and taking out what trees you need.

And and Eagle Point, I've already discussed this at great lengths with them.

They understand that there's gonna be trees that already are approved for removal.

But if the community development department already knew that and already knew that they're exempt, just like the Potsferi extension is exempt, that's why you never saw a tree permit for the Post Ferry extension, because it's exempt.

So that never came before this body, it never came before the planning commission, it's exempt.

That's discussion's been had before.

And so if it's exempt, why is it even on the permit to begin with?

It they're already good to go.

We don't need to be talking about about 13 to 15 trees somewhere in there, or they're already good to go.

They can remove them.

They don't need to be here.

So we're only talking about trees at that point that are not in the way of infrastructure for public works.

We're talking about trees that are on individual lots.

Well, the preliminary plan is approved by the planning commission, it doesn't come to this body for approval.

And you folks haven't approved this yet.

You haven't approved it the final lot lines.

And one of the other things is, and this was mentioned during the during the hearing as well, is that yes, uh Jerry Krill can do an administrative uh adjustment that allows up to 20% less on um uh what am I thinking of setbacks uh for each individual lot.

However, uh there's no limit on what a variance can do.

So if we just waited on the tree permit and did it when it was supposed to be done after the road is done and everything's done, and it comes before this body, you could attach this tree permit and variances to it, and I'm not suggesting this, but you could do zero lot lines with a variance.

And if that means saving a couple more trees, isn't that worth it?

Isn't that what we're trying to do?

Uh it meets the qualifications for it.

So they're not trying to stop development as a whole, they're trying to use every option available to build this as best as possible without causing any major harm to the developer here.

So I just think at this point, with the way this thing has gotten to you, guys, and all the mistakes that were made.

Uh I I just I can't understand why we're in this situation, and frankly, uh this should wait until you're ready to do the final approval for the subdivision.

And I'm gonna leave it at that.

That's the biggest items.

I'm always open to questions always.

Um, but uh yeah, I'll kick it over and we'll rebut appropriately.

Thanks.

Thank you.

15 minutes.

15 minutes, sir.

Good afternoon.

My name's Jordan Birch.

I'm the uh director of land uh for Meritage Homes who took over for Elliott Homes, the individual or the company that actually processed all of this.

And I'd like to just kind of go through these points one by one, some of which are a little bit different than what was in the originally filed appeal.

Um, but to start, uh just to get to know Meritage Homes just a tad bit, I think that's important because as a new builder in this area, although we're the fifth largest home builder in the country, uh, we do pride ourselves on being the most energy efficient home builder in the country, and we've we've won that award time in and time out, and we intend to build energy efficient housing in this subdivision, be purely spray foam installation.

There's some somebody brought that up um earlier, but I just wanted to reaffirm that this is not Elliott Holmes, this is a meritage home product, and that's who we are.

Now, a lot of this has been discussed about process and whether or not the legal process was actually complied with.

I think that's the primary um objection that was raised in the appeal.

And we are in the position that we must rely on Mr.

Creel's uh testimony as to that process as far as what was submitted.

We have our file as to what was submitted in preparation for this tree hearing.

And one of those items is a map that it should be in your file that's a tree plan.

And in this tree plan, it identifies all of the protected trees uh that are defined under the city's ordinance.

And as Mr.

Creel identified, there's 27 that are being requested to be removed, and 43 will remain.

So this isn't a uh I I hear a lot of objections to our home building competitors and how they go about uh designing sites.

Now, although we inherited this, we we do our best to try to save trees.

And so when Mr.

Creel came forward, and I think there was a picture of what we've kind of all discussed as the anchor tree, that was an easy choice for us.

We believe that that I haven't seen that before.

And if that means that we just adjust a road, we'll just adjust a road.

It's gonna have some cost, but we think the value of that tree and for this community is worthwhile.

And that's kind of where we pin ourselves, but going to the actual legal process, because that's heavy in any uh application and any permits and and things that are approved.

And I just want to read because the black Talupolo and Turkey Oak were all identified in this plan.

Uh some of which have to stay, some of them are going to go.

I'm not saying that, but I'm there was an objection as to whether or not they were included.

They all are included in this plan.

Um, with that said, you know, going through the ordinance, if you have this in front of you, you will see that these notes correspond with the tree ordinance as far as what we are obligated to do.

And one big uh question was mitigation plan.

And so it reads right here City of Biloxi requires mitigation for protected trees at three to one ratio.

I believe it's actually a two to one ratio.

And it's it it were it it references the the ordinance, and then it gives a basic understanding of what the mitigation plan is that falls right in line with exactly what the ordinance is.

Now, there was a proposition uh by the appellant that said that we needed to submit something more than this, which would be a full landscape plan, identification of every single one of these trees.

And I would put forward that that is not expressly under the existing ordinance the requirement.

There is a there is a structure for mitigation within the existing ordinance that is referenced right here as what we intend to comply with, and that is what we intend to comply with.

And that would fit the definition um under the code for a mitigation plan.

And there was a question about whether or not it was reviewed for completeness.

Um I don't think that question is properly posed to me, so I will let staff kind of address all the internal procedures that need to happen.

Um but we were communicated that everything was done as to the code and everything was was noticed properly, and we just rely on staff and and I think the council's probably knows that they have a great staff under Mr.

Creel here.

Okay, so the next point just going down through my list here is a question about cedar trees and how that came about.

That wasn't our recommendation, that's not on any of the plans.

I I I would submit that that isn't on the protected tree list.

The way that that came about was actually in the tree committee, which I attended that hearing.

Um one of the committee members was putting forward a recommendation that there there be cedar trees planted along the interstate as a sound buffer.

Now, with that said, we just accepted that as a condition at the time.

I I I don't see anywhere in the code that that's written.

I think it was just merely a r recommendation by that tree committee body, and that wasn't anything that we put forward.

So I I don't know how we're necessarily bound today and putting forward that we are trying to swap uh non-protected trees potentially.

That is not the case.

And the next point that I in my notes here is about a variance.

Now I was a little bit confused when I originally read the appeal because a variance isn't what is currently in front of this body.

So I was a little confused as to how the variance was being proffered.

But after listening to the appellant, I understand that what they're asking for is for us as the developer to come back once all infrastructure has been put into place.

Let me just say there is no way to put in the storm drain system unless we follow this plan.

It all interconnects.

If you look at this same map that calls out the reasoning for the trees along the interstate to be removed, there's a note here, and because this is the cut section, this is as Mr.

Creel pointed out, that's the high point of the property.

And so there's no way to get the whole site to drain.

It would be a complete mess if we attempted to do this in pieces.

And in my experience, I've actually seen people go in and put roads and infrastructure in and throw caution to the wind without actually identifying a drainage plan.

And the entire site is a mess, especially where you have wetlands that get impacted and everything else.

So to think that we could just go through and do this piecemeal, I I would I would strongly, you know, talk to the engineers and and everybody else.

I am personally not an engineer, but these plans all have to be interconnected.

And again, I would point back back to the tree survey that we did and look at how many trees we are saving.

This is not a clear cut.

When you look at this map and you see how many trees, the 43 trees that are going to be saved, plus all the additional planting that is going to be required as part of that mitigation plan identified in the ordinance and referenced here on the map, we're keeping trees and including the anchor tree.

And with all of that, I this will not resemble a clear-cut community in any way when you're keeping 43 of these trees.

So I I we're excited about this.

We're excited to be here to build here our new product.

And um, I would just reserve the balance of my time for any rebuttal if that's uh allowed.

There's no QA until after the um process is concluded.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right.

All right, we have uh the remaining time, uh which is five minutes uh for the appellate uh to uh respond.

Uh first off, I want to um just say this, you know, for the developer here.

Um the most part, for the most part, um I I don't feel like the developer is the main issue.

I think a lot of what we're talking about is um I'm trying to put this nicely administrative issues.

Um I will submit that uh I my personal opinion is if you're a developer in our city, you you should learn the ordinances.

I mean, uh there is the Manasy Code website.

Um I'm sure you guys have seen the Munisco website that has all our ordinances.

I I know I've looked at the Munisico website and it's uh you know got a lot of good information on it.

Um but I will say that um let me see real quick here.

Uh so one main point I know he mentioned, he mentioned doing this project piecemeal that nobody would would submit to that.

I I need to be very clear here.

Part of the public works permit uh items is that it mentions uh a whole host of things, and one of that is drainage and sewer and the road and cable and electrical and all of that.

So if any of that stuff stands in the way of completing the public works permit, again, I submit today that he only has to go is to Jerry Creel, pull a public works permit and say, this tree is in the way, I'm gonna remove it to put in drainage.

So that might be more than 13 trees.

Maybe.

Maybe.

Um, but to say that he is not able to put into a road right now or put in the drainage to put it what he needs to do, we're merely talking about how the lot lines will set on the final plat.

There's no reason that the road can't go where it is unless he wants to submit that if the lot lines were to change, maybe I put my road differently.

Well, I understand that that would be a discussion during the final subdivision plat, but we're talking about left to right to this lot slightly bigger, that lot slightly bigger.

We're not talking about issues of drainage or or any of that.

That would be resolved already.

Um the other thing is uh I understand that a tree committee member, I don't recall which one did that, but um, if a tree committee member said that a cedar tree was the route to go, um I will submit again that that meeting, I know for a fact that Mr.

Creel was in that meeting, Mr.

Jerry Creel was in that meeting, and that would have been the time for that discussion to have occurred.

Um but again, it is ultimately you know what, let me put it this way.

You know, I I wasn't gonna say this, but I think it's fair.

There, you know, Paul, we've talked before.

Um and when I lost on the Moffitt Road tree permit appeal, there was a question I asked you, and I asked you as a friend, and I said, hey, I'm just not mad.

I just want to know why what was your viewpoint and why you voted against me, right?

And I think it was a fair question.

He gave me a fair answer, which is when we're dealing with legal issues, um I defer to the city attorney, which that's a fair answer.

Um, but uh what I didn't say in that conversation to him that I'd like to submit to you is that if I'm driving down the road and I get a speeding ticket, can you imagine if a cop pulled me over, shoemaker?

Can you imagine if you pulled me over?

And I said to you, I'm not a lawyer, so I didn't know that that speed limit sign told me I couldn't go that fast because I'm not a lawyer.

It's not a great answer.

Um and you know, ignorance is no excuse for the law.

And if you're a developer in our city, you should know the law of development.

And I know that's a slight slight on him, and I don't mean to be rude, but when you come in that there's too many developers who come in here and they and I'm gonna be frank, they rely on Mr.

Jerry Creel to tell them what the law is.

I don't care what Mr.

Jerry Creel says, because the laws in black and white.

In fact, it's submitted as an attachment right in front of you today.

So you have the law.

You don't even have to pull up the website.

The law is right in front of you.

There's just no excuse for it.

I'm I'm sorry, there just isn't.

Um and and I wish the best on this developer with this project long term.

We need to follow the law, and any one of these reasons in this appeal is a reason to deny it.

Any one, just one.

And the mere fact that this didn't go to the tree committee with the official site plan, didn't come with the proper mitigation plan on the map, didn't come with all those documentations.

That is enough of a reason.

I don't even need to get into the variances and whether or not he has to do variances.

You're right.

Probably doesn't.

But at least we should try.

At the end of the day, it still doesn't meet the law, and I'm I'm sorry that now 30 minutes of your time is probably wasted on something that could have been resolved with a two-minute conversation at the tree committee.

Uh thank you.

Thank you.

All right, I'll I'll open it up.

Uh there are any kind of questions uh either for the appellate, uh the developer or uh Mr.

Creel.

Mr.

Creel.

Two, Mr.

Creel.

So I'm sorry.

Throughout the whole dissertation, one thing that resonated with me was the tree committee vote was 4-0 with two abstains.

Do we have a reason on the to that abstained as to why they abstained or didn't have to be yes?

One of them, one of them said that uh they didn't get all of the information from Susan Peterson when she sent it out, that uh it got cut off toward the end.

And I asked her, What did you call Ms.

Peterson to ask her to let her know that it got cut off and sent it back?

And there was no answer.

So uh I mean there has to be some responsibility taken by the committee members that if they're not getting all the information, they would let the chairman know.

Right.

Chairman would gladly send that information to him.

I would like to point out some things, though.

As usual, Mr.

Fusco doesn't get his facts straight.

Uh I don't know if he's selectively reading what's in there or not, but I would like to address some of the things just so you'll know.

Um he mentioned that the Tupelo Oak and the other are protected trees.

They are not protected trees.

Uh the only reason he mentioned that was because in the ordinance it says it very specifically spells out what the uh protected trees are.

All cypress, southern magnolia, and live oak.

It does say that the developer has to show those other trees on the tree survey.

They are not protected trees, but it's under the section that says a permit is required to take those down.

They're not considered part of the public hearing, they're not considered it, but it's in that section where it talks about where permits are required.

And so he's confusing that into thinking that that means that they're protected trees, and that's not at all what it says.

All right.

Um permits have been issued on this property.

The uh developer willingly agreed when he came into DRC that he would work with us to develop the mitigation plan.

We're working to set up a time where uh Mr.

Manis, our consulting arborist, could meet with him and uh with Mr.

Birsch and his consulting arbitr to put that mitigation plan together, but he has agreed to do whatever we decide, uh whether it's uh planting trees on the property, which they would rather not do, you know, with the all the grading that they have to do or paying into the tree bank, he said, but whatever the city requires, I'll do it, and it actually shows up on their plat that they submitted that they would comply with whatever the city required.

Um permits will be issued on this, not even a grading permit, until that plan is approved.

The issue of the cedar tree did not come from a committee member.

It came from one of the neighbors that was in there.

They're the ones that recommended that cedar trees be considered uh to plant along the I-10 uh right-of-way.

And so the committee did not have a problem with that, and like I said, they actually incorporated that into their vote to approve.

If that's what the people want is cedar trees, then we'll make that a part of it.

And then later on it was discussed that it could be cedar trees or a protected tree, because we try to replace protected trees with protected trees if possible.

Uh Mr.

Fusco said that if there is a difference between uh the committee and the director, that uh I'm supposed to take that to the mayor.

Again, he got that wrong.

Uh what it says is well, it says if there is a difference or a conflict between the director, the committee, and the planning commission, that I'm supposed to report that to the mayor within two days.

There was no conflict.

The uh site plan committee approved the project.

The tree committee approved the project.

They voted to approve it.

The planning commission voted unanimously to approve it.

There was no conflict, so there was nothing to report to the mayor.

The reason we're having this hearing today is because that's the next step in the process.

If someone is aggrieved by the decision of the Planning Commission on a tree issue, then they appeal it to the City Council and the City Council ultimately makes a decision.

So again, Mr.

Fusco got this wrong.

Uh and uh I I don't know.

He seems to show up to oppose everything that we present, and I'm just not going to go any further with that.

Um exempt.

Uh the exempt status that he's talking about has to do with existing right-of-ways.

If there are existing right-aways, and the sewer contractor like that's doing highway 90 right now, if he's running that sewer line and there's a tree in the way uh and it has to be removed, then we're allowed to exempt that, but we're not allowed to exempt it on a new development.

We followed the process.

This is the process.

This is why we took it to the tree committee to the planning commission.

If I were trying to do something wrong, I would have just said, hey, it's exempt, let's just move forward, you know.

So I don't appreciate the accusations that we're trying to do something wrong.

Planning commission approved the preliminary plat.

The next step was to uh there was no appeal of the preliminary plat.

When it went through Planning Commission for a public hearing and got approval, no one filed an appeal about the preliminary plat.

It was only after the tree case came forward that they got it right that they filed an appeal.

A part of the appeal from the Patalos said that we should wait to remove the trees until the final plat is approved.

That's not the way it works.

The way the process works is they get preliminary plat approval, they go out and they put in all the infrastructure.

When all the infrastructure is put into the satisfaction of the city engineer, then the final plat approval is put back on the council agenda for the council to approve it.

So it it just shows that Mr.

Fusco doesn't know what he's talking about.

Or whoever, I'm sorry, whoever wrote the the um doesn't know the way that the preliminary plat, final plat process works.

Um the discussion about the variance versus the administrative adjustment.

The administrative adjustment was put in there so that citizens would not have to uh come in and seek a variance for very small distances like a a one or two-foot setback, the ordinance gives me the authority to make some adjustments there.

Mr.

Creel, I I really appreciate your uh feedback, but the rebuttal and the the part of the hearing, all that is is is kind of ran its course.

This is for any questions, and I do appreciate some of that, but I'll be happy to have a lot of people.

I'm gonna have to give Mr.

Fusco um a little uh time uh just to be fair.

But uh does any of the council members have any questions for Mr.

Creel?

Sure, I do.

Was this tree permit application complete when it was submitted?

That's what I had.

It had the survey, it has the survey, it has everything in it.

If you ask it for a yes or no answer, then I would have to say that he did not show the actual mitigation plan on there, but he agreed to follow whatever mitigation we came up with with our city arboreist.

Okay.

So all the elements of the tree permit application process were present.

We felt that by him agreeing, by him agreeing to follow whatever we demanded and the fact that he couldn't get a permit until he did provide that information that that we felt it meant the measure of that, yes, sir.

So he said uh I'll do whatever you need me to do for mitigation.

It actually says that on the uh preliminary plan.

And I'm just curious, is it been determined whether it's gonna be on-site mitigation or uh contributions to the mitigation tree mitigation trust or a combination of the two.

I'm just curious first.

It could be both, and they've agreed to do uh either or plant plant the trees, which is a difficult thing in a subdivision because you're having to maneuver the houses around, which is part of that administrative adjustment that I was talking about.

Well, not only that, but on the tree mitigation if they plant trees on the property, then they have to maintain those trees for three years.

Correct.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

All right, thank you.

We have to monitor that, yes, sir.

Any other questions for Mr.

Creel?

Yeah, I got one.

The uh the Cypress trees.

That is just a recommendation from the residents.

Cedar trees.

The cedar trees, yes, sir.

And we all know they are not protective.

They're mostly for the sound barrier.

That's right.

Correct.

That recommendation was made by one of the uh at the tree committee meetings, we have neighbors sometimes that attend.

That recommendation actually came from one of the neighbors that live there that recommended that, and the tree committee was willing to go along with it.

Now, has anybody, I guess since this backs up to the interstate, reached out to DOT or anything to make sure that it's not going drainage is not going to affect the Interstate in any way?

Well, uh, like I said, they have their Corps of Engineer permit, they have uh their MDEQ permit, and that would have all gone through the State to get approval.

So they've spent they spent a tremendous amount of money here, and any change to this design would require them to go back and have to go through all of those permitting processes again and spend another substantial amount of money to revise all those drawings.

Now with um Eagle Point, we we everybody knows the drainage is not great.

How how are they going to the drainage going to affect the residents that's there?

I mean, because obviously the drainage is not to be redrawn because you know we the roads are too small.

I mean everybody knows that.

So my question is, how are they going to be able to set a a point for the drainage to flow out if we've not created the rest of the drainage?

Well, the calculations, they have already produced the calculations, and as Miss Levitard said that they've worked with her all the way through the process, they have to show through engineered documentation that their after-development runoff is not going to be more than their pre-development runoff.

So there won't be any more water running off this property after the development goes in than there is right now.

Okay.

That's all I have.

And I have a I have a copy of that post versus pre-study that they've done in here.

So that's fine.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Jamie.

Uh so and follow up to his question on the cedar trees in the mitigation.

Would the number of cedar trees be included in the mid mitigation or would it be in addition to the mitigation?

So right now it's two to one on protected trees.

Would are the cedar trees being considered in lieu of or in addition to?

We could we could consider that.

We had hoped that uh what would be acceptable was to plant protected trees there so that they would be a part of it.

Uh cedar trees are not considered protected trees, so uh if they put that out there as a barrier, I don't think I would be able to count those as mitigation trees.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr.

Tuesdale.

Sure.

So let's look at these.

I'll call them buffer trees, whether they are protected or some sort of cedar.

If I were to purchase one of those homes on those lots, and those trees have been planted, and I decide six years from now, I'd like that tree down.

I'd like a beautiful view of the interstate, the 18-wheelers that drive by.

So I would like to remove that tree or those trees.

Are there any sort of restrictions in the deed along those lines or they might put that in the covenants?

I don't know, that'd be a question for Mr.

Birch, but uh trees uh in a residential yard, if someone wants to remove it, they can remove it.

You know, there's there's nothing in the ordinance that says you can't remove a protected tree.

And let me just point out one thing along those lines.

The only reason these trees are having to be removed is because they've got to raise the elevation out there for the drainage to work correctly.

If the terrain was level all the way across, they could they could basically, I mean, they would have probably still had to have a public hearing because they would have had more than four protected trees being removed.

But that's the reason that they're having to remove all of these.

Uh if they only remove the trees for the infrastructure or the right-of-way, then it would have been up to the individual homeowner to decide later on whether or not they wanted that tree to be removed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Anyone else?

I just have just Mr.

Schuebe.

Have some more comments when we hear the case in a few minutes, but just one question for you, Director.

The buffer.

I know there's no buffer right now on the plans now, and this doesn't really necessarily have anything to do with all the protected trees, but there's no buffer plan.

It's going to be cleared all the way to the interstate.

And really, for us, there's no way we can change anything as of now to add a buffer to that.

Or is there, is you can do that.

The the buffer is actually the recommendation of the tree committee.

That was the recommendation they made to the planning commission, and the planning commission agreed with that now.

You have the authority as the council to change that from cedar trees to live oaks if you want to along there.

So if you feel that that's a more appropriate.

So if you feel that that's a more appropriate well I guess I mean a buffer as thank you.

I appreciate that Peter thank you.

And I guess what I meant not necessarily with a row of trees but with let me let me just state that.

Yes sir.

Because uh I know just with billboards and all MDOT has rules that you can't just clear trees within their right-of-way to put in billboards.

So just looking at the aerial map of this area there's probably a 40 to 50 foot buffer zone between the back edge of the lot and the interstate so you know how far the lots go back I mean I think they're going to go back to a stand of trees that will be probably 50 50 or so feet to the interstate the only trees that we're talking about removing are the ones that are actually on Meritage's property not on the I wouldn't I I end right away.

Right.

But if we wanted to change the cedar trees that's a possibility.

You can but in order to change and add to the buffer that that uh Peter is alluding to is not really feasible because of the plans have already been drawn up and I think there was an issue if if that happened and it with uh drainage maybe.

Well the planting of the trees is not going to cause a problem.

No no I mean I don't mean planting the trees I mean clear and say a 50 foot section as a buffer not a couple of trees in a line.

I mean as a you know a buffer like but Peter was saying on the interstate has it but if meritage left the buffer I don't know 50 feet 25 feet something that we came up with to leave that as a better buffer than adding on to what Peter mentioned.

Not a not a couple of trees are not just planting a handful of cedars or oak trees or something like that.

Is that doable?

I believe it is you know I we'd ask Mr Birch if they're willing to do that.

Everything that we've asked them to do they've agreed they've been very willing to do to accommodate uh the our request so once the once the topo is raised up there would be room to plant trees uh along that property line back there.

Right okay and again I and I understand what you're saying I appreciate it.

I just mean and I know that the land is going to be cleared and it's got to be raised up and I guess that's the issue of not being able to leave trees and plants that are already there now and that's going to be the issue.

So that that can happen.

Okay that's all I have for you Mr.

Creel thank you.

Mr.

Crew I have a question cedar versus oak cedar versus magnolia whatever which one is better for a sound barrier?

Well the neighbors seem to think that uh the cedar would not only give them a sound barrier but would also keep exhaust from coming off of IT in the same way you know because they're solid from the bottom to the top and they grow together.

I think that has to be maybe at least discussed or considered but anyway any other questions Mr.

Marshall I have wondering I have one question.

The completeness of the application was it fully complete all the documentation there we have we have what we believe is a documentation that was needed yes sir yes or no was it a complete document with the application complete with all the documentation there we we don't have a mitigation plan that shows where the trees would be planted.

That's the part that we don't have but they agreed to work with us and our arborists to create that if the council agrees to this that will be the next step in the process does that affect the completeness of the application you could argue both ways you know if they had said no we're not willing to do that then that would have been an incomplete application but because they said we are willing to do whatever the city requires and they put it on their preliminary plat that they were willing to do that.

So you're saying they basically conceded that they're going to do whatever it takes.

That's correct.

In that one particular area and you take that as to be completed.

I I think it does yes sir I think that uh and that was based on your professional opinion.

Yes sir.

Okay.

All right there being no other questions I I will do this.

Um Mr Fresho uh if you want to come up here and I'm going to give you a couple of minutes of uh discussion whatever you want to talk about it's only fair um and then we'll see if the council has any questions for you and then we'll end the the meeting that's only fair.

That's only fair.

No, I I appreciate that.

Um look, I do want to repeat uh and I don't want to make it all about personal stuff.

I do have something actually very direct on this one, but uh look the way I look at it right, when developers need help, they call Jerry Creel.

When neighbors need help, they call me.

Um I wish they would stop.

I mean, I'm here because I was asked on Sunday to be here.

I understand that you see me a lot.

That's why I'm here.

Um, with that said, I I do want to address, and I'm not gonna address everything that was said.

There's just not enough time, and I don't want to.

Um, but when it comes to the tree permit section, this is really important.

I said again that this is in front of you, as you speak it should be, I would hope.

Um, but if you look at the tree permit section in the ordinance section 23-2-4, it has a section titled applicability, right?

And that applicability section in order to read this.

Activities subject to the permitting process.

A tree permit is required for the removal, relocation, or alteration in any of the following conditions within any zoning district and on any lot size.

Any tree of a protected species, live oak bull, cypress and southern rag that are at least eight inches in diameter or dbh, so pressed height, and it says, or two any tree of a non-protected species with a DBH of 16 inches or more.

I don't know how to read that any clearer.

It's a protected tree.

It's not a protected tree species.

It's a protected tree because it's over 16 inches in diameter.

Call me a liar, I'm just reading what's there.

Okay, that's that's real.

Wait, just hold up.

Does anyone have uh any questions for Mr.

Fosho?

Yeah, how long have you been living in Woolmarket and Eagle Point?

I don't live in Woolmarket.

So how do you I live in I live in Warfare under uh Paul Tisdale?

Okay.

They had seen me involved in the Moffat Row case and the Guru Joe case, so they reached out to me for assistance.

Okay, that's all I have.

When you say you live under Paul, he's on a second floor, you on the lower floor.

Oh short-term rental, maybe?

I don't know the flight elevation difference.

I'm glad he's not my neighbor.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Fresho.

No, not that.

Okay.

We'll go ahead and conclude uh the hearing and we'll get on to uh citizens' comments.

We got a pretty large crowd.

We're gonna stick uh strictly to the uh three-minute rule today.

I usually allow a little bit, uh, but we gotta get everybody in.

Uh total 45 minutes.

You can speak on any topic you want.

This is not question and answer uh citizens' comments.

So when you're recognized, uh raise your hand to be recognized, come up, sign in your name and your address, state your name and your address, clearly for the clerk to record, and uh we'll get started.

Anyone on my left, your right, raise your hand to be recognized if you want to speak.

First hand went up.

Yep.

Hello, my name is Ashley Bynum.

I live in Eagle Point.

Um, first of all, Mr.

Creole, I don't know if you're just mistaken or if you're just fine.

But he is wrong, and he's told you wrong many times.

I was at the tree committee, I was at the planning commission.

That is not a resident's recommendation for the cedar trees.

We all thought that was asinine.

That was one of the tree committee members who made that.

Um, because we raised the same questions.

Who's gonna take care of the trees?

Can they tear them down?

And that's just not a good buffer.

So that's completely incorrect on many on many um accounts.

Um let's see.

But overall, it's just really odd to me that we started off this meeting talking about the beautification.

Um, you know, committee, but here we are.

We're just trying to fight to keep our beautiful trees in eagle point.

That's what me makes Eagle Point Eagle Point.

Beautiful homes, beautiful lots, beautiful trees.

And that's all we want to do is just keep those.

Um they haven't even sold all of their homes in phase one.

They don't need every square itch to you know, build all of these.

They can build around the trees, and that's all we want them to do.

Build around them.

Um during the tree committee, uh, when we raised issues about the sound, I asked Meredith about, you know, because their houses are gonna be butted up right against I 10.

And I asked him, you know, about that.

And he said, Well, you know, we spray them with these sound foam, they're really great, they're you know, all these things.

And I said, Well, what about us?

You know, what about the rest of us who live there and have lived there for a long time?

Uh we don't have a special foam, and he just kind of shrugs and just well, and that's kind of their attitude about the rest of us who've you know been living there, been paying our taxes there, who make that neighborhood what it is.

Um they're just kind of taking and taking.

Um, I have a recording here of what the sound sounds like from phase one.

This is this is the noise.

So we all have to hear that.

And I can hear that all the way down to the end.

That was where I live.

It's not okay.

Um, and we just want some privacy and some safety from I-10.

You know, what happens when someone who's doing 80 miles an hour flips their car and ends up on the side, which we've seen many times on I-10.

That's gonna be someone's home.

We really just need to keep as many trees as we can, have that buffer like what we need, and just you know, honestly, and we also need people who are going to all these meetings to be correct on what they're saying, because speaking for the residents incorrectly is not okay.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Anyone else, my left, your right.

Raise your hand to be recognized, Ms.

Peterson Gerald Peterson to her.

Bring the mic to her.

Or I'm Susan Peterson, the tree chairperson for the city of Biloxi.

Our tree committee voted by majority to allow the Hawk Creek based subdivision to proceed.

Planning commission.

The developer was extremely cooperative in developing site plans, which best preserve protected trees, isolating the future homes from the traffic on I-110.

Our tree committee meeting and planning.

The developer saved the anchor tree by rerouting the roadway and subdivision and eliminating the house that was built on that site.

They agreed to plant three rows of buffer trees along I-110 interstate.

First time for our tree committee, planting commission to agree to find a buffer for our area.

The cedar trees being developed and plant the developer agreed to plant, are not part of the mitigation.

They have agreed to mitigate the 27 trees they would like to remove fired by the land development ordinances, which is two protected trees.

That would be 54 protected trees planted or pay into the mitigator.

They have agreed to save the other protected trees by leaving them for new homeowners.

Lexi had our tree, contracted arborist Bradmanis, do a long with the tree committee.

Most of those trees were not in good shape.

And they were not majestic trees, which is not have the great tree canopy that's required, and they aren't healthy trees.

We'll address that, and he addressed it at our site visit.

The trees on the lots removed are being removed or building.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Good to see you, Dr.

Draught.

My name is Larry Troudy, and I live in Wells Ferry Subdivision 3485, Brandon James Drive.

I'm not here today because I have a concern.

But I do want to give a shout out to some fine city employees that have done an excellent job, in my opinion.

I've heard many of the council members today mention a number of people that have come through and done a good job.

But you have a young man, I'm assuming he's young, I've never met him, named Cleo Weights.

And he's the superintendent of the public works of drainage and streets for the city of Biloxi.

I've talked to him numerous times on the phone.

He is articulate.

He is straightforward.

The thing about I like the about the young man is this is that once he tells you he's going to do something, he follows through, and you don't have to keep following him back up and up and up and up again.

He is outstanding.

He also has two people on his crew that are very important.

And let me share this with you just very quickly.

If you drive into Wells Ferry, there is a curve around the thing that come down to the first stop sign.

It's a blind curve.

And if it is not cut back with all the foliage, people are going to have wrecks and things like this.

If I call Mr.

Waits and tell him that the thing probably needs to be cut, I don't have to wait six weeks, a month, or anything else like that.

He sends his people out there, and both.

And both of his people, uh, Keith Manns and Jeremy McMackie were outstanding.

They are very cordial.

I talked to both of them.

They're just outstanding people.

I think it is time that you know, and we live in a world today that really doesn't give a whole lot of credits to people that have done a good job.

These people, I'd give them an A plus if I were to give them a grade.

You need to keep these on board.

Thank you for your time today.

What ward did you say you were in?

Oh, what is uh ward six?

Thank you, Mr.

Draughty.

Dr.

Draughty.

All right.

Uh my left, your right.

Yes, ma'am.

All right, good afternoon, everyone.

Um, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Dr.

Tizdill and uh Mayor Fofo for allowing me for the last three years to be a part of the tree committee.

Um I have absolutely enjoyed being part of uh our city.

Uh again to learn more about city government, being involved with my ward, with other wards.

Um, it's really been a very wonderful experience, and I encourage everyone to be involved with the city.

There's a lot of great things happening here, and the tree committee is obviously, as we're hearing hearing about today, it's a very uh uh hot topic buttons.

I just want to just thank everyone for the opportunity, and I also wanted to congratulate um Miss Van Maners on being the next uh hopefully if y'all uh confirm her as being the next ward five tree committee member.

Um, I just wish her the best of luck and again thank Dr.

Chisale and Mr.

Gillage for uh allowing me to have this opportunity.

So everyone have a great day.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, I'm gonna switch gears over here.

I'll come back on this side again, but my right, your left.

Anybody on this side of the room.

Good evening, council.

Come for you tonight or this afternoon, rather, not out of frustration, but out of faith.

Out of faith that we can do what's right.

For five years, local church group has gathered a lighthouse park pavilion.

Week after week, they've served quietly.

No cameras, no headlines, just love in action.

Recently, this group was told they could no longer use the pavilion.

Reference to the letter I just gave you from the city attorney.

It says the treatment they currently have was no longer valid.

Yep, they didn't give up.

Moved out into the grass often after dark.

Surrounded by people who just need a hot meal and a con word.

Just a few steps away, a perfectly good, well-lit pavilion.

It's empty.

Now they've been told it costs $400 a week to use that pavilion.

Sorry, not a week.

Every Thursday.

$400 a day.

And there's no way to reduce that fee.

Look back at that letter from the city attorney that reductions are prohibited.

Church services.

That's hard to understand when other community events have had fees waived or reduced, especially for a group doing something so selfless.

Got three on the agenda tonight.

I hope they receive the same letter in response to that reduction.

This part was built with public funds meant to serve everyone equally.

I believe that includes those serving the least among us.

Would believe that as well.

Scripture reminds us that whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Those letters are read in the Bible, ladies and gentlemen.

That's the words of Jesus Christ.

These volunteers are living that verse.

They're doing the work so many of us talk about.

Feeding the hungry, comforted the broken, showing God's love in action.

This isn't about special treatment.

It's about fairness, compassion, and living up to the values we say we stand for as a community.

Councilman Gray, I remember your concern and will listen to help when this first issue first came up.

And I appreciate that, sir.

I'm asking this afternoon that the council take another look at this situation, and namely for one of you guys that sponsor this resolution and put this on the agenda.

To find a reasonable way for this group can continue to continue their good work without facing barriers that keep compassion in the shadows, such as under the bridge at Division Street.

At the heart of it, this isn't just about a pavilion.

It's about what kind of city we want to be.

A city that opens its doors to kindness, or one that puts a price on service and mercy.

I believe Biloxi can lead with grace and do what's right.

Let's make sure the light of that pavilion down on the beach shines again, not just for the folks together there, but for what it means for the heart of Biloxi.

I appreciate your time this afternoon.

And as I said, one of you found in your heart to sponsor this and put it on the agenda.

Sir, could we get your name again, please?

I'm sorry.

Sir, get a name.

Need to get your uh name for the record if you don't mind.

Sir, your name?

Very much.

We all need to be forward.

Thank you.

All right, continue on this side.

Yes, sir.

Good afternoon.

My name is Pastor Daniel Thurber of 1601 Beachview Drive in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

I'm the senior pastor at New Beginnings Church.

And for the past five and a half years, we've been holding an outreach service every Thursday night at the Lighthouse Park underneath the pavilion.

And throughout that time, we've had the privilege of watching God do great and mighty things in the lives of many who've attended that service.

We've seen those who've shown up homeless and hopeless, transformed into folks who are employed with housing.

We're now living lives full of purpose and meaning, all by the grace and the strength of God.

We meet for roughly two hours, and that's the city for nothing.

We have our own power, we have our own lights, we even have our own trash cans.

The permit that we've been operating under has the caveat attached to it that if the city can rent that facility for a Thursday night to somebody else, we'll move.

We're not trying to get in the way.

So it baffles me why the city is so uh determined to get rid of a program that's doing such good for their constituents and yet costs them nothing.

I've asked for answers, and every person that I've had contact with from the city hasn't even had the common courtesy to communicate me from a platform of honesty or mutual respect.

I've received thus far blatant lies and misrepresented state laws that rise even to the point of being actionable offenses, and for what purpose?

To stop folks from reaching out with the love with the love of God to the neighbors.

I sincerely pray that we're better people than that in this place.

I didn't come here today to be confrontational, and as a church, we're certainly not looking to cause any problems for the city.

In fact, for the past several years, we've been working very hard to be part of the solution.

I refuse to believe that together we can't find a remedy that would allow God's work to continue while at the same time be something that those who are in city leadership could sign on to.

What we do has the support of a vast amount of the people in your community, I promise you.

And uh a solution to this situation would be undoubtedly beneficial to the city.

I would covet the opportunity to speak with any of you privately if you wish, and I pray that you would see God's wisdom not only in this situation, not only this decision, but in every decision that you make within these walls.

I just uh thank you for your time and I pray God's richest blessings upon you and your families, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Anyone else on this side of the room?

Marwright, you left.

Yes, ma'am.

We'll come back to this side next.

I'll get back over there too.

Good afternoon.

My name is Vera Berry.

I am also a member of Co City Church.

And Thursday nights is our coming Thursday night is our friends giving, which means that we will be serving a meal to these people, literally handing them a meal.

What we're trying to do is keep this going for them.

We don't ask for much.

We ask for two hours every Thursday.

That's all we ask for.

So please don't take that away from us.

Please.

Two hours.

We police the area up after.

We make sure it's clean.

You can check on us.

We don't care.

We want the two hours that were taken from us.

And I also have a conversation.

Mr.

Dillett on first Friday.

A quick conversation said that he would look into it for me.

I pray.

Thank you.

Go back to this side of the room.

I left your right.

Raise your hand and be recognized if you want to speak.

All right.

There being no one, we'll get back over here.

Yes, ma'am.

She let her go first.

Excuse me.

Thank you.

I need all the blessings I get.

My name is Harry Kenney.

I live on 10617, short five ward six.

I'm here mostly just I want to say what I feel.

I'm a resident of Eagle Point.

I'm seeing what's happening in Ward 7.

Excuse me.

And I'm upset.

As I continue to watch.

I know it.

It's basically Horton.

Hell yeah.

To me, they clear cut the land that they're developing.

No concept for preservation or environmental safeguard.

I realize that with developers, it's an accounting exercise.

They're there to make money.

We know that.

But it's a city that needs to make pathways towards compliance.

Biloxi has always said we're a tree city, but I don't see that reflected in what is being allowed to happen in the name of economic development.

Now I'm just a resident observing stuff.

I have previously been on the tree committee.

So I do know something about the protected trees and what constitutes a protected tree.

But there are four standards that have to be met to be classified and designated as a tree city.

One, you have to have a tree board.

We have a tree committee.

Two, you have to proclaim and observe Arbor Day.

The original, I think tree committee set that up, and that's it been around for years.

You have to have tree ordinances or local laws that are committed to tree management and all that entails.

Now we all know when we've heard that we have the tree ordinances in place.

The question I had that maybe is to be addressed later is do we really enforce them?

Do we make it too easy for people to get exceptions?

When I see that could be yes, I'm not sure.

I don't know how much money has been collected for fines.

Last I heard it was zero dollars.

And finally, you have to have within the city budget, and I have no knowledge of this.

I'm assuming that's true.

And this tree committee designation has to be updated yearly by application.

I'm assuming that's done.

And it sounds like it's more self-certification to me.

That's it's done.

I assume you put your application in every year.

Maybe Biloxi somehow can check all these boxes.

But in my opinion, the city in no way demonstrates an ongoing commitment to urban forestry.

I even know from listening to lectures that birds migrating have to go further north now because it's done down here.

I hate to see Biloxi, to me, they're marching toward being a designation as a treeless city.

Is that the bell to shut up?

Yes, ma'am.

That's that's the bell to shut up.

But I know you can do better.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sir, you better.

That's right.

You'll hear the belly.

All right.

My name is Brad Mass.

I am the address, sir.

Uh I live in Long Beach.

So I don't know.

I don't live in.

Okay.

Um but I do want to speak one thing.

Most of these trees grew most of their life as underbrush.

That being said, not in the best of it.

Most of these trees have about two films only have.

Trees are underbrush, scrub tree.

Non-protected trees.

Around these trees.

Once these non-protected trees are removed, protected trees fall into category.

Well, they fall under the issue.

Issues from thinning are healthy trees, are gone.

Non-protected trees.

Saving are objected to things like sun scalding.

When that they weren't subject to.

Not as healthy as the growth the same.

So therefore, there are going to be.

Nope.

This is not a question and answer, unfortunately.

Thank you.

Anyone else on the right, sir?

Yes, in the back.

Good afternoon.

My name is Sean Stead.

I'm a local pastor in Biloxi of Coast City Church.

And uh my address is 5812 South Work Ocean Springs.

Thank y'all for having me.

Give me time.

Good to see you again, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, is uh I want to just encourage the mayor and city council to look into the situation that is happening at the pavilion.

Um I've had the honor of partnering with Pastor Daniel with New Beginnings Church since August.

Um, our church, every Thursday night, we partner with them.

We show up and we look into these people's eyes, we hear their stories, and it has completely changed our church.

We thought we were going there to help them, and they've helped us.

They've helped us.

And me, my wife, we are not, we're not from the Mississippi coast.

Um, and we're we're we moved here from South Alabama, and whenever we were challenged with the opportunity to come and start a brand new church in Biloxi, we met it with reluctancy.

I had never been to uh the coast of Mississippi, and I didn't know anything about it, but I can remember going over the bridge that meets Ocean Springs to Biloxi.

I remember going over and seeing Biloxi for the very first time, and I was in tears because I was I I'm originally from Pensacola, my wife is from Memphis, and we saw maybe the best of Memphis and the best of Pensacola met here in Biloxi, and I just felt like I was at home and I saw the coast and how peaceful it was, and I just my soul was at rest.

I loved it.

And it drew us here, but what has kept us here because starting a church from scratch is hard, it's difficult to maintain one's even more difficult.

But what has kept us here on the coast is the people.

They've been generous, and I can say without shout out to I've not met a single stranger in Biloxi.

Everyone is so friendly and so kind and so generous.

And I agree with uh not Pastor, but with Mr.

Mary here that we should take every good opportunity to make our community and our city better.

And I think that anytime we can invest the seed of generosity into a community, we see it paying dividends that does not show up on a spreadsheet.

But it shows up in the hearts of the people.

But it changes the community from the inside out.

So please, I encourage you to look into this.

I want to see that my I see a vision of Biloxi in the lighthouse becoming what it once was.

It's not just a landmark, it's not just a logo, it's not just a tourist attraction, but it fulfills its original purpose, and that is a beacon of hope and I want Biloxi to be that more than anything else.

And I'll leave with this Bible verse, Isaiah 58, verse 10.

Feed the hungry and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Anyone else on my right, your left?

Yes.

Yep.

I'm the other Sean, uh, Sean Richardson, 11 Mirfield, Ocean Springs.

Um, what do you say that hadn't already been said, other than I just wanted to thank you all for allowing us to come and speak.

Um also, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, you know, when we go out and we spread the word, the good news of Jesus Christ, it's something that we're all compelled to do, whether you're a believer or not, compelled to do something good for your community.

Um I think when we when we get away from that, is when we stop being a community.

We're no longer, we're no longer helping one another.

Um and that's what we're truly doing here.

Um, I I can I can tell you, I can attest to you the people that I've seen in doing this for a little over a year now.

Um, that are no longer living on the streets.

We had four people just this last week that are moving in the housing.

Two of them got new jobs.

Um he's working, he is working.

And when I say he, I'm talking about our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is working.

Um, you know.

I I heard this committee, I was I was watching uh, and and somebody mentioned the other day uh feeding homeless is just part of the problem.

And you're right, that's 100% true.

It is.

Um but the other part of that, how do you make somebody self-sufficient?

Make them self-sufficient by feeding the word of God.

That that's that's how we become better human beings.

That's what compels us to be part of a community, part of a church, part of a city that that that compels us to do that.

And when we do that, we want to have jobs, we want to do well, we want to get off the streets, and we're seeing it.

We have we have uh at least six people just in the year that I've been there that are no longer on the streets and are being a part of a community.

Um and and to mirror some of the things that that Pastor Sean said.

I'm not originally from the Gulf Coast either.

I moved here about six years ago.

Um and I do.

It's special, it's very special.

I always thought my hometown was special, but uh my wife and I are staying right here.

Uh we got four more years to work, and this is where we're gonna stay because we do love it.

Um, but this it's because we get these kind of opportunities to go out and to minister to people um and continually, you know, help and bring out the word of God.

And I just ask that that each of you um find it in your hearts, um, pray about it, please.

Um to allow good work that's been going on to continue.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Anyone on this side of the room, last chance, this side of the room.

Anyone on this side of the room?

Jerry.

I just wanted to correct something.

I asked our arborist who was in the room whenever we talked about the cedar trees and the way that it was presented.

Uh the lady that was sitting over to my right asked for buffer trees to go along there.

Our ward seven tree committee member said, you mean like cedar trees that would make a good buffer?

She agreed, and that's where it came from.

So I didn't want you to think I misled you.

All right.

Anyone else?

My right, anybody in the back of the room, raise your hand.

You want to be recognized?

All right.

Citizen comments is now closed.

We'll move on to the policy agenda.

The clerk would uh start with the resolutions.

A resolution to deny the appeal and affirm the decision of the Black Sea Planning Commission to remove 27 protected trees upon lot twenty-three of Hawk Creek subdivision.

Chair entertain a motion.

I'll move it.

Who moved it?

I'll second it.

Second by Mr.

Tuesday, Mr.

Shoemaker.

Yeah, I have a few things and and some things I'm gonna mention have absolutely nothing to do with the protected trees, and I understand that.

So I'm telling you that prior to me speaking.

I'm gonna mention the protected trees as well, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some things.

I've had an overwhelming response to this today.

And I've heard everybody and and there's a lot of issues with this, quite frankly.

And I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna just try to go through I don't know.

I know we've been here a long time.

I don't want to take all day, but some of the issues and complaints that I've heard, and again, I understand this has zero to do with protected trees, but I'm gonna bring them up.

Shorecrest, Oakland, those two streets are extremely narrow.

To build more houses, it's just we should have done something as a city prior to quite frankly this being approved with these streets.

We cannot continue to build subdivisions on streets that are this narrow.

The drainage is not good.

It wasn't good prior to, and since the the first phase has been built, the drainage is worse.

Eagle Point, eagle, the word eagle, there are eagles all through those woods.

And I get and I understand people don't care about that.

It's a bird and it's other animals.

However, a lot of people do.

We're gonna cut trees down for phase two.

And look, everybody's in business to make money, and I certainly understand the developers want to make money.

Absolutely.

That's what we need to do.

We need to have good, sensible, smart developments.

Make money and grow and spend it in the city for all means.

Please spend lots of money in the city.

However, being good stewards, and I know this is going to sound stupid, especially to developers, and I understand that.

Sometimes you have to be good stewards to the community, I think.

Look, nobody, I don't I haven't spoken to one person that's for this.

And at the end of the day, to the developer, I'm sure they don't care because they have development or they have money they want to make, and I'm fine with that.

However, with all the complaints, and I understand it's an expense to the development.

I would ask that we please try to do something different.

If it's for nothing else, then make a buffer from the interstate to the rest of the neighborhoods.

Make a buffer.

I don't mean a row of trees or two rows of trees that we plant.

I mean a buffer that is there that we do not disturb.

You heard somebody earlier play a video or an audio, excuse me, and it's going to get worse.

And these people live there, they've been living there.

They don't want to hear this.

Now, certainly, there's not a whole lot we can do about it because we're voting on protected trees.

However, again, marriage is huge.

And Mr.

Burke said that.

So I don't know, number five in the nation.

Filling money in the business of making money.

And I keep stressing that because I understand.

And I know it's a stupid idea for me to even mention it.

But please do the right thing.

Try to come up with something different.

We're filling in a lot of land.

And people brought it up.

MDOT has a buffer from the interstate.

But where does this leave drainage and flood?

If we're building up this part of the um if we're building up this land, all that water's got to go somewhere.

And if we're building it up, where does it go?

It's going on the MDOT.

I mean, I I'm assuming that was, I'm sure it has all been looked at, but that's a lot more water and a lot more drainage going towards the interstate and through that patch of woods.

And I don't know how big that patch of woods is, and quite frankly, I don't know how how much how the drainage is, but I'd have to assume us build or the developer building that up is going to cause some more drainage issues that there's already there now.

Um again, I may have some more questions as everybody else speaks.

Protected trees.

Uh I know some of these and the because of development, and I get some of these are going to be cut down, maybe.

I don't know how the council is going to vote.

But I'll ask one last time, and I'm gonna just say it again, I've already said it twice.

If marriage would do the right thing, look at some of these, some of your um plans, try to do something, save some trees, put a buffer and save all the trees you can.

It was mentioned, if I'm not mistaken, there's 43 trees being keeping 43 trees over 22 acres.

I mean, that's not a lot of trees, in my opinion.

43 trees is and I know maybe to the development that's great, but it's really not.

It's nothing, it's empty.

And again, not only for the people for the area for the drainage that's there now, please rethink that.

Maybe there's nothing you can do, but be good stewards to the community.

These people out there have been here for years, and we're gonna come in there, the development is, and all that's gonna change overnight with what's going on now.

Please rethink that.

And that's all I have for right now.

Thank you, Mr.

Schumacher, Mr.

Tuesdale.

Thank you.

Mr.

Creel, did I understand you to say I believe it I did regarding the uh mitigation requirements that it was written on the preliminary plat that the the developer would agree to whatever the city required for mitigation?

Is that accurate?

What is the significance of that for those who may not understand the significance?

Well, that obligates them to follow the rules of mitigation here.

If they don't follow the rules of mitigation, that preliminary plan is going to come back before this body title plat approval.

If the trees are not there, or if they haven't complied with the mitigation, you can turn down that final plat.

Right.

And how would we know that?

I'm assuming your office would basically explain that, or that would yeah, the ordinance requires what's called a CDC before we can issue COs on uh any project.

That CDC means certificate of development compliance.

What that means is that all of the land requirements that the ordinance places on there has to be completed before we move to the next step, which actually would be uh file uh bringing the final plat to y'all for approval before it could go be filed in the courthouse.

Okay.

And I understood Mrs.

Peterson to say that um it was mentioned that was it three rows of buffer trees in addition to the required mitigation.

That's what was discussed, yes, sir.

Now currently that's not a requirement, that was a recommendation.

However, if we could include that as part of our decision here today when we vote, correct?

Yes, sir.

I think that would be an amendment and an amendment.

Yes, sir.

Uh which would have to be approved.

And I appreciate Mr.

Mann, this is the contracted arborist.

And we were on is it am I accurate in saying that when the arborist we had uh left?

That we searched for that was maybe two years ago almost.

He left in February of this year.

It seems like two years.

It has to be two, yes, sir.

I understand.

I understand.

But we we were unable to find an arborist, and we and we did find an arbitration that we could contract with who is certified and credentialed.

Yes, sir, correct.

And he has been very good.

Anytime I call him, if it's something routine, if it's obviously a dead tree that needs to be removed, I go ahead and make that decision on it.

But if it's anything that requires expertise, I call him, and he's usually out there that same day to evaluate it.

All right, thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Mr.

Creel, anything?

Mr.

Neil.

Do you have anything?

Mr.

Marshall.

With the drainage and Eagle Point being, I guess not up to par yet, because we still have so much to do out there.

I mean, we get complaints all the time of the drainage systems out there, and I mean, there's not really no drainage pipes put in.

The only thing we have is the ditches.

So that and the numerous amount of calls that I have received over the last month about this project.

I just I I can't support this.

So I'm not saying that this is not a good project.

Maybe not now.

Maybe the problem.

Let me mention one thing about drainage because we have to we have to let neighbors know about this all the time.

One of the reasons that you have drainage problems on undeveloped land is because that land has never been studied, has never had an engineer study done of.

And one of the best things that can happen to it is for a development to come along because then you get the engineering that you need to evaluate how much water is going there and how to control that water so that it's not increased in any way.

And that's what they've done is hired uh an engineering firm to actually go out there and study this property to make sure that their after-development runoff does not exceed their pre-development runoff.

A lot of times it's it uh it actually solves problems of drainage because it's now been studied to see where the water is coming from, where it's going to, and how to capture that water.

You're you're you're right on that.

But at the same time is our roads are too small.

The ditches out there are still too deep to go in there, because I traveled that.

And when you come in through there, you know, big trucks is going to be coming in there.

You know, I I just think it's not the right time for this project.

And that's my personal opinion, and that's all.

I just don't think it's the right timing and the amount of residents out there, I'm sure, you know, maybe once the roads get redone and the drainage and new water systems, maybe it may be a different time to look at this.

And that's just my opinion, and that's all I have.

Okay, I have a couple of questions, Director.

Uh first of all, this project, it's been approved, right?

And not the I'm not talking about the resolution today, but the development plan.

It's been zoned, it the zoning is approved, and it's been approved for this project.

Now they have to uh adhere to the flood.

They got to submit a flood plan that the post-runoff is no more than the pre-runoff, correct?

But already we have that.

We already have that.

So the so when when like you said, when land is cleared, now you you can see more of the topography, and you look in the uh back or the front or whatever, and you see the flooding going on, and people assume well this development is causing that when in actuality it's what's been happening before they start to develop it, it's just not but but they can show that the post-runoff is not going to be any more than the pre-runoff.

Is that accurate to say?

Right.

Let's get to the roads.

So are they required, say this went through uh and then they move forward.

Is there anything that requires them to improve the roads?

There's nothing that requires them to improve it, no.

But typically with a development project is when the demand is on the city to come out and make the improvements.

I had my people go out there and measure shore crest today, and the average on the shore crest from asphalt edge to asphalt edge is about 22 feet, which is typical for a street.

But on the West Oak Long side, it was like between 18 and 19.

Yeah, so I've heard from engineers, friends of mine that live in that area.

If there's a concern out there, it's certainly the roads.

But that's not the fault of the developer, that's more the responsibility of the city.

Correct?

Am I accurate to say that?

If we if we recognize that the roads need to be improved because of the increased traffic that this development is going to cause, we need to find a way to improve those roads so it doesn't uh create an undue burden on the on the city or the residents or whoever is going to use those roads.

That's the direction.

Yes, is that the city would provide city services to a new development, yes.

I get it.

All right.

So then we we uh the purpose of us today is to consider a resolution to deny the appeal and affirm the decision of the Blocksea Planning Commission and vote that up or down.

I mean, that's really what we're here today.

And we've heard uh during the public hearing, that's an extra step that we are able to hear more evidence from both sides on what can be done.

Uh Mrs.

Peterson clarified that the uh cedars are are uh that they're just an addition to what's required if they remove identified protected trees.

And it looks like they have agreed to do that.

In addition, I'd like to hear is the Meritage representative still here?

If you don't mind, just I got a couple of questions for you.

Um we've heard comments from our director.

I just want to hear directly from you.

So uh with what I heard that you are willing to agree with any conditions that the uh planning commission or the director of community development is uh uh requiring you to do or suggesting you do.

You you is that your response today that you're willing to do that?

What we had discussed was that we would be willing to comply with the city's tree ordinance.

Uh understand.

That's what we're doing.

But you've heard you've heard the council members talk today about their concerns on this development.

And I I've certainly tried to lay it out that this was the zoning was approved.

Uh we're trying to get to a point where you can develop um but it looks like there's still some conditions that that are reasonable.

You may feel they are unreasonable.

So do you feel it's reasonable or unreasonable to comply with what the um planning commission is going to recommend or suggest that you do?

I know that I'm just asking the question.

And and just for clarification, uh the planning commission, I'm not I'm not sure what that recommendation is that something that we know right now.

What I understood the director to say that y'all had a conversation that you're willing to uh agree to to whatever they suggest that needs to be done to this property to develop it, you're willing to do that.

I think I'm a little bit concerned to state that we'll just agree to whatever would be.

So what what would you suggest?

What would you state?

What are you comfortable with stating?

So what we had discussed was that we were going to mitigate the trees by complying with the cities already approved and passed mitigation plan.

And that's what we had.

We weren't trying to modify that.

We weren't asking for concessions.

We'll say we will abide by the letter of the law, how that's written, that's what we will comply with.

If there's something else, I mean the for example, the row of cedar trees that came through the committee.

Yep.

Sure.

Okay.

That's fair.

So let me ask you another question because some council members are concerned about the flooding, and it sounds like you already have that flood plan submitted.

We have some developers, and we've heard them come to this council and say you we're doing seven times what is required.

I'm not suggesting you do seven times uh that is what's required, and I'm not trying to force you to do anything, but would you be willing to take another look at the flood plan and see if there's uh any wiggle room to improve that?

What I'll say is we're constantly doing that.

That's that's something absolutely that we're constantly looking at, even while we're developing a site, because oftentimes while you're clearing something, you're actually learning more about your site than you would have known just by looking at it.

And we're absolutely concerned with what the drainage is going to be because we live with these communities.

We have to sell these homes.

We have a drainage issue, we need to fix it.

And there's projects that we took over from Elliott homes that we're not even building homes in that we're going back and fixing drainage.

So, yes, drainage is a very important thing to us.

We will not leave it in a condition that doesn't work.

That doesn't work for who our our company is, our our image.

If there's a problem, we're gonna fix it.

All right.

So obviously, this if this keeps going forward, it's gonna have to come back to us.

And as you have stated, you're still learning.

So that so this this plan that we have in place that there's no more uh post-runoff than the pre-runoff, we may discover some new things that maybe we weren't entirely accurate.

And if you do that, you'd be willing to adjust your your plan.

That's absolutely the case, yes.

Okay.

I mean, it's been studied as much as you can study it and understand what the hydrology calcs are from LIDAR and from topography, but there's nothing second to having guys on the ground and saying, hey, we might have an issue here and this is why.

And make adjustments as we I just want to, you know, listen, I want to be transparent.

I want to lay some groundwork that there is a spirit of cooperation between developers and the city and the residents, uh, that we are working toward uh you know some positive outcomes with this.

But we're not giving you a blank check.

Nobody's really implied that.

Uh but this is certainly an area that we're concerned with.

The roads, I I would agree.

The roads are certainly concerned.

That wasn't your your issue.

That's certainly our issue.

But as we put pressure on our infrastructure, uh we got to sometimes take a look at it, and we depend on a partnership with you, the residents, and and our city leadership to achieve that.

So let me get back real circle back to the resolution today.

Um the Eagles concerned me too.

I I didn't really think about that, Councilman.

Um usually you have to do a uh environmental uh or whatever impact study on how it not only affects the the animals in in the area, but plants that could be endangered and reptiles that can be endangered.

Have y'all done that yet or or have y'all completed that part yet?

An environmental impact?

Be totally transparent.

By the time that we purchase this from Elliott Holmes, it was already the preliminary pro in that process was already completed.

That environmental and what did that did you have a chance to review it and and come to a determination or I have not reviewed.

I'm sorry.

I I don't think I have any other questions.

Director, have you uh have a copy of that environmental impact uh study?

We do not have a copy of that, and that's something they're not required to share required to share it.

Be required to provide it to uh the engineering department, but not to our department.

Well, if there is uh uh eagles, not A Eagle, I understand there's multiple eagles in that area.

Maybe that's something we need to also look at.

And uh I mean, and maybe the developer needs to be kind of conscientious.

It would be a pardon the pun, a feather in his cap if if we find a way to uh to preserve that.

Um I'm and let me come back full circle.

We're today what we're trying to determine is trees.

You know, this this tree uh recommendation.

And uh it what I think I'm hearing is that they're willing to put additional buffer zones.

Uh they're willing to agree with any kind of mitigation that the um that Jerry's office is uh coming up with.

Um I don't know what more is as far as the trees go that we want to ask for today.

And councilman, it's in your word.

Help me, help me out here.

What what's more of your perspective on on this thing?

Oh I do have another two quick questions and comments.

But I just go ahead.

I'm done.

Go ahead.

We brought up the M dot easement.

Is that being cleared?

And how many feet is that?

Any idea?

No, M dot MDOT is not being touched as a part of this project, no.

So we're not elevating any of that property.

That's going to stay where it's at, and we're going to elevate the subdivision.

But we do we do have the they do have the approvals from the again from the Corps of Engineers and from MDEQ, which means that they've reviewed that and they have approved it.

Okay, thank you.

Last two two comments, I promise.

Absolutely, President, you brought up roads.

Absolutely, the City of Biloxi has issues with roads all over the city, especially in Woolmarket, and it's a company upon us to get new roads before we start approving and continue to approve subdivisions.

We have to do better in that sense.

And drainage, I understand.

I'm no engineer by no means.

But I know when I see water worse than it was before, and the drainage is worse in phase one than it was when there was woods there.

And that's all I have to say.

I don't have anything else, anybody else?

Mr.

Tuesday.

Yeah, on this on this buffer again, there's and it may not be appropriate this time, but I'd like to memorialize that.

I don't know if an amendment would be appropriate at this time.

But if because it's it's been said we talked about a buffer, it could be this tree, that tree, or whatever.

I'm fine with whatever trees are there, whether they are cedar related, they don't have to be protected trees.

Um and again, the understanding is that if they if they were planted, then the developer has to maintain those trees.

Correct.

That's correct.

In the buffer, and that's in addition to the mitigation required of the number of protected trees.

That's correct.

And yes, sir, because the because the buffer was in the recommendation from the tree committee and in the approval from the planning commission that hits before you today as to what to do with that buffer.

It's already been approved as part of the recommendations.

Y'all can increase it or I guess what I'm getting at if it was if if it was included in this um resolution today, then is it necessary to specifically mention that buffer of trees?

It's already in the recommendations.

So it's there.

That's part of this.

Okay.

That's good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right.

Call for the question on resolution and understand what you are voting for.

It's a because sometimes it it's tricky with the wording.

Resolution to deny the appeal and affirm the decision of the planning commission to remove 27 protected trees.

That's what's before you.

Okay.

All in favor of the resolution to deny the appeal and affirm removal.

Hold on a minute.

Just so we're all on board.

Because I see there's a an A and a B to this resolution.

Am I right?

No.

No.

There's no B to that.

Where's the B?

That's right.

A was moved.

Yeah, you didn't you didn't move B.

This we're only talking about A.

So we're only talking about A because B wasn't moved.

Okay.

Just so everybody's on board, because it is very the way it's worded, I think.

So if you're not in favor, if you are supporting Oh, go ahead.

You how did you say it, Kenny?

I'll let you say it since uh if you're supporting to affirm the decision by the Planning Commission to remove the 26 or 27 protected trees.

Is that what you want?

You're gonna deny the appeal and you're going to affirm the decision to remove the trees.

With the yes.

All right.

So if you vote for this, you're saying you are going to affirm the decision to remove the trees.

Everybody clear.

That's why I want to state it.

Sometimes it's tricky, but it's worth it.

That's why I wanted to make sure that no vote is upholding the appeal.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

So I think if everybody's clear, I'll go ahead and read re-ask uh for the uh for the vote.

All in favor.

To deny the appeal and reaffirm.

That's right.

All opposed.

All right.

Six six to one.

Item B.

Uh, Mr.

President.

Yes.

You're confused on the audience.

Can you explain them?

Would it we can't?

Yeah, what what happened?

We did not uh we uh upheld the decision, the appeal.

We didn't deny it.

We upheld the the decision of the appeal.

So we're not gonna be cutting down any trees.

Okay.

Got it.

All right.

Let's move along now.

Next next item we're gonna be moving brusque here.

Resolution appointing Pamela Mainers as Ward Five representative to the Bloxy Tree Committee.

I'll make that motion.

Move by Mr.

Tuesday.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Creel.

Mr.

Tisdale.

Yes, I don't believe, I don't see Miss Manners here today.

Oh, what a great name, huh?

No matter what the job, Miss Manors.

Yep.

Uh but I know she's she had to attend several different meetings today, and she's active in the community.

I know her from working with her uh in Biloxi School.

She was a principal at Biloxi High School and wasn't for a number of years and an employee there for probably 30 years at least.

So I I would uh encourage your support of Ms.

Manners for this position.

Thank you.

All right.

Any other discussion?

No.

There being none, call for the question.

All in favor.

Those opposed.

Motion passes unanimous.

I did.

Okay.

Item C resolution allocating program year 2026 community development block grant funds for the creation of a homeowner rehabilitation program.

Motion.

Do we have a motion?

Motion.

Made by Mr.

Marshall to have a second.

I'll second it.

Second by Mr.

Gray, Mr.

Marshall.

As we discussed before, this is a good program.

It's going to help people throughout the city of Bilexi.

We still got a lot of work to do, but it is in the work.

It has been going into the uh the right direction, and it's been a long time coming.

Mr.

Gray?

This is a this definitely a program that has been needed.

I know we've had one similar to this before, but this is to help the people that don't have family, don't have the funding.

And this is why I support this.

I think it's a a good thing for all of Bloxy, not just certain areas.

That's all I have.

Any other discussion?

Um it's just a comment.

Uh uh want to be sure I understand, and basically this is as I view this uh resolution of intent.

This is this is what we want to do in program year 26, which is the next cycle of of funding for C D B G.

And we're not allocating all of that amount, whatever that might be, usually it's several hundred thousand dollars because you have some program income, it may be 500, 600, 800,000, whatever.

We're not allocating all of these funds for housing, are we?

Is that the intent?

Not under this.

Basically what we're gonna do is develop a program and then they're gonna come back uh with what is possibly what is needed to have an effect.

If you go in with something too low, we won't have an effect on anything.

Right.

Also, this section is my understanding is already sectioned out that there's some um 15 percent is set aside already.

So is that the whole amount?

But all of the numbers and all the details are gonna be worked out.

What they're what we're doing is voting to make sure that we have uh direction to where we're going.

Right.

So we have some monies available.

Right.

We're gonna be determining all the panels as we go further.

Thank you, Mr.

Marshall.

All right.

Call for the question.

All in favor?

Those opposed.

Motion carries.

Next item.

Resolution authorizing facility rental agreement with Mississippi legislative black caucus and approve any reduction of facility rental and deposit fees for the Green Ridge Community Center.

Chair entertain a motion.

Motion.

Motion by Mr.

Marshall.

Do I have a second?

I'll second for discussion.

Thank you, Mr.

Creel.

Uh Mr.

Marshall.

Um what we have is um a chance to to do something for a for our organization that's coming to our community.

They're gonna be bringing any type of jobs, they're gonna be bringing uh hotel rooms, and they're gonna be meeting discussion issues that are vital to our community.

Mr.

Creel?

Nothing further.

Anyone else have anything?

Call for the question, all in favor?

Item D.

Those opposed?

Motion carry six to one.

Next item.

I'm sorry, five to two.

Did you get that, Kerry?

Resolution authorizing facility rental agreement with Gulf Coast Boxing Academy and approving a reduction of facility rental fees for the Grey Ridge Community Center.

Chair, entertain a motion.

The chair will entertain a motion.

I'll move it for discussion if I can get a second.

Second.

Thank you, Mr.

Marshall.

Um the normal fee is six hundred dollars.

Is that accurate?

And the um Gulf Coast Boxing Academy.

Uh can you talk a little bit about that, Rachel?

Or who's familiar with the application?

Okay.

Correct.

Of course.

Anyone fight or only?

For that.

That is confirmed.

Any dialogue as to why or have we traditionally discounted this for them?

Or I've never seen this the first putting it dull tonight.

All of the rules followed safe permit.

Uh the only thing I want to say is if you've been around boxing, and I know Biloxi used to have a very viable boxing club.

We got a lot of people, the Biloxi Bomber, Tiger, uh, Stokes on the coast, and uh a lot of kids will attest um what that experience has done for them in life and everything.

I don't know much uh I haven't been around Beluxi boxing in some quite some time since I've grown up a little bit, but uh, you know, I I don't know how the council uh feels about it, but I just know the the kids that they attract and it keeps them off the street and they get that energy going in the right direction, they learn a discipline, they they usually grow up actually um to incredible character and individuals if you look at the Derwin family and and and some others.

So um that's just my two cents.

Ms.

Marshall, anything?

Uh I guess I don't be off topic or anything, but I don't know much about this organization.

I am in favor of any activities that would help you.

However, I'm assuming that's what this organization is gonna do.

However, not to be off topic, but it would be a lot better if they're asking us for something, at least show up and and and tell us who they are, what they are, what they what they try to do, and how it's just gonna benefit the city, or give us some idea of if it's a national organization, we are we already know.

But for us to sit here and try to talk up uh you're asking us for something, you know.

I think that we should say at least show up.

I think that's a great point.

So with that, I'll make a uh recommendation that we table it to our next meeting and invite the representative to uh come and address the council and tell us a little bit about their organization.

Do I have a second?

Second, second by Mr.

Marshall.

Any discussion on tabling it to our next meeting?

All right, call for the question on the motion to table.

All in favor.

Those opposed 4-3 table it for uh until our next meeting.

Next item resolution authorizing a sponsorship agreement and facility rental agreement with Christmas on the water inc for the 2025 boat parade and authorizing a waiver of certain equipment fees.

All right, motion by Mr.

Gray.

Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Mr.

Tizell, Mr.

Gray.

This is always a great event.

Uh it brings in thousands of people.

I mean, how could you not support this?

This gives our family time.

Get out with the kids and and enjoy some Christmas lights.

That's all I have.

All right.

Mr.

Tisdale.

Uh yes.

Uh uh, I'm supporting this measure because it's an annual city-sponsored community event.

We've traditionally historically done this for years and years and years.

And even though I voted uh against just about every other facility rental.

In the spirit of Christmas, I'll support this.

Thank you.

All right.

No grants.

Okay.

All right.

Uh any other uh discussion.

There being none, we'll call for the question.

All in favor?

Those opposed, motion carries.

Next item.

Resolution authorizing temporary moratorium on the assessment of late feet pertaining to water and sewer utility bills.

I'll make that motion.

Motion by Mr.

Tisdale.

Second.

Second by Mr.

Creole, Mr.

Tisdale.

Um Rick, if you don't mind, just a brief overview.

Or somebody just to bring well, just if I understand this correctly, this is only on the late fee.

We're not waiv your water bill.

We're just waving the late fees.

And only if you were affected by the federal shutdown.

Right, which is Peter, correct me on any of that.

Right.

Go ahead.

Right.

I think we had the resolution ready, probably the day that the government agreed to open back up.

So if a residential customer uh has an issue, uh it just allows them to apply to the water department to have a late fee waiver.

Right.

So they have to apply to the the water department.

They either call them or send them an email or whatever.

And this is only waiving that late fee.

Thank you.

Mr.

Greel, anything?

Nothing for anyone else all in favor?

Those opposed.

Motion carriers need a uh on the consent.

Motion on the consent, please.

I'll make it.

Thank you, Mr.

Tisdale.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Thank you, Mr.

Shoemaker.

Mr.

Tisdale.

I don't have a question.

Thank you.

Mr.

Shoemaker.

Unusual, but no, sir.

I don't have anything either.

Mr.

Marshall.

I'm good.

You're good.

All right.

Anybody else?

Anything on the consent?

All in favor?

Opposed.

Consent is unanimously approved.

Exclusion.

Code enforcement.

Now open.

Quickly, Mr.

Creole.

Come on.

You're comfortable later.

Item A, Baptist Church of Biloxi 193 Dory Street.

That case has been resolved.

Item B, Sean Lee Costa Bur, 325 Park Drive.

That case has been resolved.

Item C Michael Nassau.

Good guess.

Seven Raynor Street.

That case has been resolved.

Item D, Sharon Touchstone, 8022, Woolmarket Road.

That case has been resolved.

Item E, Oro Keith Museum of Art, 385 Howard Avenue.

That case has been resolved.

Item F JMM L L C 420 Kivett Street.

That case has been resolved.

Item G, a state of Tony and Hiram, Tony E and Hiram W.

McCall.

1713 Ridgway Drive.

That case has been resolved.

Item H, Terry and Margaret Cobb, 282 Hickory Road.

It's property still in violation.

Is there anyone here to uh speak on behalf of Terry and Margaret Cobb?

282 Hickory Road.

Okay.

Sir, if you come up, state your uh comments.

What's your name, sir?

If you Harrison?

Okay.

Plus we have a car is in.

Oh downstairs.

Move it back, it'd be okay.

All right.

So director, are we making any progress here or what where are we at on this?

Looks like it has been remote agreement.

Previous picture should have a pre.

That's what it's like.

All right.

We need any more time or what do we need, Director?

I would have asked for perfect variance.

All right.

Chair entertain a motion for 30 days.

I'll make that motion.

Motion by Mr.

Tisdale.

Second by anybody?

No by Mr.

Nail.

Any discussion?

All in favor?

Opposed.

You have 30 days, sir.

30 days to get it all cleaned up.

Item I to say and Realty L L C38 reach over here.

That case has been resolved.

Item J, Ashley B.

Prince and A Ryan S.

Baker, 307 Holly Street.

That case has been resolved.

Item K, Jimmy Meadows, Zero Covet Street.

This property is still in violation.

Anyone here to speak on behalf of Jenny Meadows?

Zero Civet Street.

There being no one, this case is closed.

Get a motion on the routine.

So moved.

Moved by Mr.

Creel, do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Mr.

Shoemaker.

Mr.

Creel.

I need to recuse from Curry Johnson invoices.

All right.

Mr.

Shoemaker, you're up.

I have not.

Anyone else?

All in favor?

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Need a motion to move.

Mr.

President.

Let me hold on.

I'm sorry.

No, go ahead, Mr.

Mayor.

One thing I should have brought up doing on my mayor's report, but I know yesterday y'all had a little bit of a gathering to pre-talk about some of the things.

Some modification to that, but I would offer is not so much as a formal workshop, but I you know, like we tried to meet with directors and so forth.

I would say next at the next council uh at the next agenda, I would have an informal first three get in free kind of discussion.

If you have any questions on the agenda that will be voting on uh Senator General, any items on the agenda, I'm willing to do that.

And if you think that would be more beneficial than doing formal pitch.

But the first one would sound good to everyone.

Uh why don't you have your people get in touch with our people?

Okay and uh and send that invitation.

Just remember the first three get in free.

Right.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, what what what day and what time we have Monday or before the Tuesday, four o'clock?

Or you would rather have a different hour.

I mean, I'm asking, it's just a communicate.

I mean, it's not gonna be just Monday if we continue Monday at four for whoever wants to.

Why don't we continue Mondays and then we can modify that as we get more input?

There are some that that it doesn't work well, but maybe some of the conversation was having about doing something earlier, you know, even Wednesday or Thursday or something before thing was set.

Yeah.

But you know, I I think had some you know, feedback on on you know how how difficult that or how that would cause some issues.

But you know, to me, how do you have available to talk?

We'll be available to talk if anybody has any questions.

What you be placing in your hands on Friday on a Friday on a you know um uh day before basis.

If I could just make a suggestion Monday at four o'clock, if four people if four people show up, then we're but if if you could offer two options, maybe Monday at two and Monday at four, or just another option.

I'm just getting on I can do that.

Well, say that that way I may be able to make it at two, and then that way if I get here and three people, I can come back at four.

Yeah, I mean that's cool.

Let's know it's not an issue.

All right.

Thank you.

And what are we doing now?

Two and four.

We're adjourning.

Motion to adjourn.

Do I have two and three?

Two and three.

I like that even better.

Okay.

That way I can leave work earlier.

So moved on the motion and adjourned.

Mr.

Tuesday moved uh motion to adjourn.

Do I have a second?

Second by Mr.

Schumacher.

All in favor.

Opposed?

Adjourn.