OCEAN SPRINGS, MS – Let’s talk about slums. The last time Ocean Springs put this kind of label on properties, it gave the city the power to take them. Now, one elected official is using similar language to describe a stretch of waterfront homes. Is this the start of another attempted land grab?
Ocean Springs officials have a track record of labeling properties as “blighted,” a designation that can pave the way for eminent domain seizures. Just over a year ago, the officials declared parts of the city as “slums” and “blighted” properties, sparking a lawsuit from longtime residents who said they were blindsided by the move.
The formal designation allows the city to acquire private property for redevelopment, often benefiting well-connected developers at the expense of homeowners.
Now, it appears a new target may be in their sights.
In a closed-door meeting, Ward 1 Alderman Jennifer Burgess wasted no time calling a stretch of waterfront properties in her ward a “slum,” a “total crotch.”
You can listen to it here:
“The biggest heartburn I have is that Oak Glen Marina, because it’s right on the water. It’s prime real estate, and these condos are just terrible,” the Ward 1 Alderman continued. But her words didn’t stop at criticism. Burgess expressed a clear preference for what she wanted to see happen — an outright redevelopment of the area.
“If you go into my ward, at the very back of Fort Bayou Estates, along the bayou, there’s apartments, and you go through those apartments, and there’s a marina,” she explained. “And it used to be really cute. They had a putting green. They had the boats. It’s a total crotch now. It’s frustrating. I would love to see a condo developer that would just get rid of the apartments altogether and just do condos.”
To see for ourselves, we took a walking tour of the area Jennifer Burgess so casually dismissed as the “crotch” of Ocean Springs. What we found were the homes of hundreds of residents — families, children playing outside, retirees enjoying their waterfront views. These are the people Burgess would see displaced.
Are these slums? Does this look like a community that needs to be wiped out and its owners “run out of town on rails,” as Burgess put it? You be the judge. Welcome to Oak Glen Marina…
I sincerely hope Ocean Springs elects some new people to represent them. You have a very unique and yes charming town, but many of those that are currently in office are going to ruin Ocean Springs if they are not replaced.