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News
Pass Christian recovering with time
By BENNIE SHALLBETTER
July 13, 2007, 17:24
The view across the new Bay bridge going into Harrison County is panoramic, with little development to obstruct the view. Traveling down Hwy. 90 toward Pass Christian for one of the first times since the storm, it is hard to figure out exactly where the town is located. A stretch of Scenic Blvd. where some rebuilding is taking place finally offers a familiar sight. Just down the way is War Memorial Park, a spot that has become the center of town. Around its perimeter is a library trailer, a restaurant trailer, a couple of bank trailers. The City Hall Complex and police department trailers are just across the street at Fleitas and Second St.
The storm all but destroyed the town. Of the 2,400 homes, only 400 were even remotely livable after the storm. The somewhat shocking scenery does little to dampen the enthusiastic, but realistic outlook of newly-elected Mayor Chipper McDermott.
"There is only one thing that will help the city and that is time," said McDermott. "The city is one mile wide and six miles long and we have lived with it like that for 308 years. We are surrounded on three sides by water. The beauty that made us is what got us in this trouble. But if we don't rebuild here (on the beach front) we don't have a city."
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Pass Christian Mayor Chipper McDermott says after 308 years,
all his town needs to return to business as usual is time.
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When oyster season opens in September for the first time in two years McDermott hopes the season will be a record one.
"There is every indication that this will be the best crop ever," he says. "The harbor is our best asset and about the only one left operating. The DMR has okayed $300,000 to dredge the perimeter so that the boats can unload."
Across the way the Pass Christian Yacht Club has broken ground on a new $2.5 million facility.
The BP station at the entrance to the marina is also breaking ground. Across Hwy. 90 large equipment is leveling ground for a new project, Harbor Town. the development will stretch from Hwy. 90 all the way to Second St.
The project will include 40,000 sq. ft of retail space and an array of condominium town homes. The project has been conceptionally approved by city council, McDermott said. "It will be a mixed use neighborhood as promoted by the smart growth plan. The city has settled on a 50 ft height limit."
Two banks are rebuilding, Hancock on Scenic and People's at Davis and Second St. are underway. Several condominium projects are slated to begin building along the beach front, including Gulf Palms, which was there before the storm. Walmart has purchased several more acres and will be returning, they say, said McDermott, building a little further back on the property. Unlike Waveland and Bay St. Louis, however, the Pass has been unable to coax a grocery store into returning to the area.
Sales tax revenue is actually higher than pre-Walmart times, said McDermott, when it averaged about $35,000 to $40,000 a month. It is up to about $50,000 a month now, he said, a far cry from the days when Walmart was open and the city saw $110,000 a month flowing into its coffers.
City Hall itself could be rebuilt at any of three possible locations, its original location at Scenic and Hearn, at its present location at Second and Fleitas, or at a site at Davis and Second. The police department and emergency operations will rebuild on a 9.2 acre site on high ground on Espy Ave.
A new $27 million K-8 school complex and Boys and Girls club will be built on 11 acres at Church and Second. The country of Kuatar donated $5 million to the project. Disney donated $500,000. A child development center donated by Chevron is also on the list of projects.
The high school, which had four feet of water in its second floor was savable and is up an operating at full capacity. A 9,000 sq. ft. Post Office will be built back on Davis Ave.
Though only 25 percent of the community qualified for the phase 1 grant dollars because of elevation, many neighborhoods are making great progress rebuilding, McDermott said.
A three phase infrastructure replacement project just got underway on Scenic Dr. at the business district. Phase two is slated to go to the eastern most boundary of the city, with phase three taking care of the western end.
The western end of the city received the most severe damage.
Only 24 people died in the almost completely destroyed town. McDermott thinks the fact that the storm struck during the day saved a lot of lives. Many stayed in their homes, including McDermott. If it had come at night it would have killed everyone around here, he said.
"We would all like to be able to be like we were, but it is not going to be. It wasn't the same after Camille and it won't be the same now," said McDermott. "We have to play the card that nature dealt us."
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