MS Coast city has rejected a new beach boardwalk. What’s next for controversial project?

The debate began over a 15-inch wall.

To opponents, it was an eyesore that would block their beach views and cover their city’s old seawall. To supporters, the project would finally protect pedestrians and lower the cost of clearing windswept sand.

Now, the future of Pass Christian’s section of a 26-mile concrete beach boardwalk is up to the state.

“We’re just waiting on answers,” Mayor Jimmy Rafferty said Wednesday.

At a packed meeting last week, the city’s Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to stop future construction and finish building only the ongoing stretch of boardwalk from Henderson Avenue to the harbor. Crews have already built a small stretch of knee-wall near Henderson Avenue. The Board voted to finish that phase of construction as a boardwalk only — without building more of the knee-wall.

But that decision depends on the Department of Marine Resources, which Rafferty said has already funded $2.5 million in federal grants for the project’s first phase, and approved $2.5 million for the second phase.

“We’re hoping that they won’t put the wall up,” Alderman Kenny Torgeson said. “It doesn’t mean that they can’t just overrule that and do it anyway.”

Beach boardwalk’s future uncertain

The project is part of a Coast-wide boardwalk planned from the Bay St. Louis Bridge to the Biloxi Bridge. Long Beach, Gulfport and Biloxi are also part of the plan, but it is unclear how Pass Christian’s rejection of the walkway will affect the project as a whole.

Rafferty said he is asking the Department of Marine Resources whether the city can finish the ongoing section of boardwalk without building more knee wall. He had not heard a decision as of Wednesday.

“Almost everyone agrees about one thing — we need a safe passageway,” Rafferty said. “We have different views of what that safe passageway might look like.”

The Board’s sudden rejection of the boardwalk came four months after mayors across the Coast broke ground on the project in Pass Christian. Opponents at the meeting last week said they were surprised by the construction this summer and demanded more information from the city. One called the 15-inch knee-wall at Henderson Avenue “reprehensible.”

Others said the plan for a widened boardwalk was a “huge opportunity” that would let them bike and walk safely next to traffic for the first time. Rafferty also said the knee-wall could lower the more than $1 million cost each year in Pass Christian to clear Highway 90 of sand.

Debate in Pass Christian continues

The Board’s decision was “their right,” said Harrison County Supervisor Marlin Ladner. “They listened to their citizens.”

Torgeson said it is possible the city could face consequences, such as shortfalls on future funding, for stopping the boardwalk plan.

Rafferty declined to speculate on potential fallout. He said the Department of Marine Resources had already agreed to consider lowering the knee-wall and adding more access after hearing citizens’ concerns. The Department of Marine Resources did not respond to questions about the boardwalk this week.

The debate may not end soon. If Harrison County receives funding in the future, it could also take steps to improve safety and control sand, Ladner said. There is no immediate plan, and he said the Board of Supervisors would consult the city and its residents before taking any action. But he said something must be done to lower the cost of re-nourishing the county’s beaches and clearing sand from the highway.

“Our real concern is safety,” he said. And, he added, “if we can stop erosion from the beach, that, in the long run, will save us money.”

Torgeson said he voted against the project in part because he did not want to lose the seawall he grew up with.

“I hope it just stays the same,” he said. “None of us know what’s going to happen.”