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BILOXI,
Mississippi — The $1 billion Broadwater Resort
proposal passed the Biloxi Planning Commission on Thursday,
with stipulations that plans for future phases would have
to be approved by a committee.
After
about 3½ hours of discussion, developers
of the 261-acre condo, hotel and casino resort got a height
variance -- which will allow one structure to be built
at 403 feet, as opposed to the 220 feet specified in the
city's Land Development Ordinance -- among other variances
and a zoning change.
Now,
the plans will go before the City Council for final approval.
The
Broadwater plans call for two casinos: one at the site
of the Broadwater Hotel and another south of U.S. 90.
Mark
Calvert, who gave the presentation on behalf of the developers,
said the project could be finished by December 2008.
"I
don't think the city has seen a project this big, and
probably won't see another one this big," Calvert
said.
The
Broadwater Resort would be built with some 3,375 total
condo and 1,900 hotel-room units on site and would also
have an 18-hole golf course, with possible condominiums
to be built on the site of the former Broadwater Sun Golf
Course. The golf course, which is about 180 acres, would
also have retail shops along the edges.
Broadwater
Development LLP is a partnership formed by Coast businessmen
W.C. "Cotton" Fore and Roy Anderson III, who
own the 261 acres involved in the project.
The
plans have also included one possible exit from the resort
area at Jim Money Road onto Pass Road, near the post office,
which is a three-way stoplight. This raised the ire of
one resident, Terrance Young, who lives on Grady Drive
east of the project. He also said the project was moving
too fast.
"We
are not talking about small variance requests," Young
said. "We are talking about substantial exceptions
to the laws on the books."
Planning
Director Ed Shambra said the commission should ask the
developers to come back with more-specific information,
including details related to the entrances and exits to
the property.
Shambra
also said he was concerned the group was asking for a
variance on parking spaces, which would be roughly 1.8
spaces per unit, less than the normal 2.5 per unit.
"Obviously,
this is a very convoluted application," he said.
With
about $1 billion in estimated cost for the project, Calvert
said each month the Broadwater Resort isn't running costs
governments a combined $6.5 million in tax revenue, based
on the developers' economic-impact study.
One
of the project's selling points is it conformed with design
concepts laid out by the Governor's Commission, Calvert
said, touting the "walkability" of the site,
and also the mixing of residential and commercial structures.
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