Ocean Springs residents angered by city’s beach development. ‘They’re living in La La Land’

When they removed a marina Tuesday night from a planned project on Front Beach, members of the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen thought residents would be pleased.

Instead, residents are angry because aldermen still plan to put a “finger pier” on the waterfront. And the marina’s death did not change the rest of the project plans that call for an event space on the beach that will include a pavilion and food trucks, along with a parking lot across the street at Jackson Avenue.

The project was not on the agenda and the vote for a finger pier came near the meeting’s end, after numerous residents rose to voice their displeasure over the commercialization of their stretch of beach — 1.2 miles of vacant tranquility lined by a walkway on Front Beach Drive.

“They’re living in La La Land,” said Ellen Hall, a founder of Save Ocean Springs, a group recently organized to inform residents about government issues. “They don’t think things out. They don’t ask for input.”

She had understood before the meeting that the detested marina project would die. There was no mention of a pier vote.

“You can not trust them,” she said. “Every time they tell us they’re going to do something, it ends up being something different.”

What’s a finger pier, anyway?

After the meeting, residents were wondering, “What in the world is a finger pier?” So, they turned to Google.com.

Wednesday morning, Alderman Rickey Authement said the aldermen’s concept is really not for a finger pier, which is a short pier or piers attached to a dock. Instead, the aldermen have in mind an L-shaped pier that will hug the shoreline, with one side of the “L” extending into the water.

Their concept still has to be drawn out by Cypress Environment & Infrastructure, the engineering firm working on project plans.

Authement said that he hasn’t seen all the negative comments about the vote on Facebook, including that it took the community by surprise.

“I didn’t have to have it on the agenda to kill the marina,” he said. “The marina has been discussed over and over again in public meetings. You’d think they would be excited about that.”

“But it seems like they’ve found another way to get upset about it.”

Ocean Springs residents question city’s motives

The vote for a finger pier also included dredging of the boat channel and construction of a bulkhead around the 1.1-acre event space. The city bought the property, the only commercial space on the beach, for $1.3 million in 2022 from the owners of a defunct seafood factory.

Residents remain suspicious about the city’s ultimate goal.

“They’ll be using that dredged channel as the foundation to expand the use,” one Facebook commenter wrote, “And a marina shall appear.”

Another said: “We don’t need a pier that will be destroyed by every tropical storm that goes by. Again, drive down the beach and you’ll still see dilapidated piers, waiting to be repaired.”

Residents also are highly suspicious because the city plans to put in parking across from the event space at Jackson Avenue when parking spaces line Front Beach Drive and also are available in two other locations — Fort Maurepaus across from the beach, also an event space, and the harbor at the southeast end of the beach.

The one acre where they want to put parking is owned by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and is supposed to be preserved in perpetuity as green space. The city says it will build “green parking” with gravel instead of asphalt, plus add new landscaping.

Marine Resources chief addresses concerns

Joe Spraggins, the DMR’s executive director, has asked Mayor Kenny Holloway to hold off on parking lot construction until his legal staff reviews the plans. The Attorney General’s Office also is reviewing the proposed use, Spraggins said Wednesday morning.

Spraggins is aware some residents don’t want a parking lot, even if it is gravel.

“A lot of citizens have heartburn with that, too,” he said. “I’m trying to work with them on it.”

He said residents could file a lawsuit if they want and let a judge decide whether a gravel parking lot qualifies as conservation. “I’m not going to get mad,” he said.

The DMR also must decide whether to issue a permit for the pier, but they will need the new drawings from the engineering firm. Spraggins said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would most likely have to sign off on the pier as well. Plans for the now-dead marina have already been submitted to the Corps.