[Rhodes22-list] Thena, News on the Pass!

[Thena Carville]

wow.....bet I know some of the people in the brawl....double the 
size....wow....not that they were very big to begin with but it is a 
start....just dashed in to check mail and will be out the door in 20 minutes 
(still running errands and the piddley little list just keeps getting bigger 
and bigger with more silly little piddley things added to it).....soon as I 
get back, going to fix myself a really huge drink and sit on my butt and 
read the article....are you back on the coast?....
Thena
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Haslett" <flybrad at gmail.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 9:54 AM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Thena, News on the Pass!


> Thena,
>
> Saw this article in todays Sun Herald.  Looks like they're going to double
> the size of the harbor in both Pass Christian and Long Beach.  That will
> take awhile.  They had a town board meeting in Long Beach last night and 
> it
> almost turned into a brawl.  The smaller towns along the coast are barely
> functioning.  Anyway, there is a lot of money (a few billion) headed to 
> the
> coast but these projects will take years to finish.  I'm just waiting for
> someone to clean the waters beyond the beach (well out of our area of
> expertise) and build some docks.
>
> Brad
>
>
> <http://www.sunherald.com/>
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------
>  Posted on Fri, Jun. 23, 2006   **
> **
> State will double size of Pass Christian, Long Beach harbors
> *But no gambling*
> *By JOSHUA NORMAN and TOM WILEMON*
> **
>
>
> Secretary of State Eric Clark announced Thursday an agreement with city
> leaders on the expansion of Pass Christian and Long Beach harbors to 
> nearly
> double their size.
>
> In the agreement was one major caveat: In order to receive final approval
> from the secretary of state for the expansion, both cities must not allow
> any gambling in either the current or expanded parts of the harbor.
>
> Pass Christian residents have long been opposed to gambling within their
> city limits. A non-binding referendum on casinos is expected to take place
> in Long Beach on Tuesday.
>
> The announcement also changes the scope of what Long Beach voters will
> decide Tuesday, as the wording of the referendum asks residents to 
> consider
> whether they want casinos across the highway from the harbor.
>
> Before Clark's announcement, the area adjacent to Long Beach's harbor
> offered limited spaces for development, including the possibility of
> casinos. Now that area will effectively double.
>
> Clark said the restriction to the expansion may not matter to the
> referendum, because according to his office's interpretation of the new
> casino-placement law, casino developments are not limited by law to harbor
> areas.
>
> "I think the law says that you can put a casino anywhere on land within 
> 800
> feet of the water if you own the land that goes to state property," said
> Clark. "I think it means if you go to the highway or if you go to the 
> beach,
> I think you can put a casino there."
>
> State Rep. Bobby Moak (53rd District), chairman of the House Gaming
> Committee that helped craft the recently revised casino-placement law, 
> said
> although this may be true in principle, it does not tell the whole story 
> of
> where casinos are allowed to go.
>
> "He wasn't completely wrong, there's just a lot of other issues involved,"
> said Moak, adding some of those other issues are environmental and zoning
> regulations. "There's a lot of stumbling blocks. (The) Gaming Commission
> would have the last word on that.
>
> "The biggest safeguard that we have is the Gaming Commission. I don't
> believe you're simply going to see the Gaming Commission go willy-nilly 
> and
> let the horse run on site selection."
>
> The Gaming Commission regulation on this issue mandates that any casino
> developer lease or own the land from the mean high tide to 800 feet inland
> for it to be a legal gambling site. "The applicant or licensee must own
> and/or lease the land this is contiguous both to the parcel used to 
> conduct
> gaming and the point of reference used to determine the mean high water
> line, and this land must be shown to be an integral part of the project,"
> the regulation states.
>
> The owner of property on the north side of U.S. 90, who has no land on the
> beach side of the highway, does not hold a legal gambling site, according 
> to
> this regulation.
>
> The Gaming Commission will not even consider giving a location legal
> gambling status until it has the local zoning and a developer gives notice
> of intent to develop the site.
>
> Biloxi allows casinos to go only where there is land next to the water. 
> The
> land across from public beaches is not zoned for casinos.
>
> Bottomlands, where the harbors will be expanded, belong to Mississippi. 
> One
> of the secretary of state's duties is to be the trustee of state lands.
>
> Bobby Moak
>
> Tim Pierce
> ------------------------------
>
> *The Harbor Agreement*
>
> Long Beach and Pass Christian reached an agreement with Secretary of State
> Eric Clark that makes an exception to a long-standing state policy that
> protects the beach from any commercial development.
>
> Long Beach has been approved to expand to the east to Cleveland Avenue. 
> Pass
> Christian has been approved to expand to the west to Davis Avenue.
>
> Clark said this exception was made because of Hurricane Katrina; he said 
> he
> made the agreement with several conditions in mind.
>
> City leaders will vote on the agreement before it officially takes effect.
>
> The conditions for the agreement:
>
> 1) The cities will not make further requests to alter the sand beach and
> will oppose any attempts to do so.
>
> 2) A no-rent lease will be entered into between the secretary of state and
> the municipality.
>
> 3) Public access will be guaranteed.
>
> 4) No gambling will be allowed in either the current harbor or expanded
> harbor.
>
> 5) Subleases for commercial development must receive approval from the
> secretary of state and be low-impact and recreation-related. The Tidelands
> Fund will receive 50 percent of the rent on subleases in the expanded 
> harbor
> section and the city will receive all the rest of the rent.
>
> 6) If at any time a development different than a low-impact,
> recreation-related business is allowed in the harbor, the city will not
> share in the rent from the new development.
>
> 7) The secretary of state will reserve the right of final approval of 
> design
> plans.
>
> 8) The city and state will enter into covenants in a form that will be
> recorded in the land records of Harrison County. These covenants will
> contain a provision that would allow any beneficiary of the Public 
> Tidelands
> Trust to sue to protect and enforce these covenants. The municipality 
> shall
> not be entitled to share in any rents while in violation of these 
> covenants;
> however, the municipality shall have 90 days to cure any violations prior 
> to
> loss of right to receive its rent share.
>
> - SECRETARY OF STATE ERIC CLARK
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
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