The Biloxi City Council voted unanimously on Aug. 26 to deny a zoning map amendment that would have reclassified part of 8275 West Oak Lawn Road from residential estate restricted to community business. Council member Mister Shoemaker moved to deny the application; Mister Tisdale seconded the motion, and the council approved the denial unanimously.

Neighbors and nearby residents filled the council chamber to oppose the change. Sean Cross, a property owner who said he lives at 11469 Road 537, told the council he had submitted a survey and photos showing a decades‑old, man‑made drainage course that crosses the applicant’s parcel and extends onto his land. “That drainage…originates on this property,” Cross said, arguing the water “drains into the wetlands, into the marsh across our land.”

Cross also cited testimony to the planning commission that the developer would bring in up to six feet of fill on the roughly three‑acre site and translated that into truckloads: “For every foot that we increase vertically with fill, we are looking at 4,840 cubic yards of fill…If we go to 6 feet high, we are looking at a staggering number of 29,000 cubic feet of fill. Okay? That’s 1,500 dump trucks,” he said, urging the council to consider the effect on stormwater and storm surge patterns.

Council members who spoke in support of denial emphasized neighborhood character and repeated drainage concerns raised at the planning commission. Mister Shoemaker told colleagues that he had received “dozens and dozens of calls and messages” from neighbors opposed to the proposal and said those concerns weighed on his vote. Mister Tisdale said the planning commission record indicated “no substantive change in the character of the neighborhood” and noted existing commercial zoning north of the interstate but residential estate restricted zoning south of it.

The planning commission had previously recommended denial of the application; council members referenced that recommendation during debate. The council’s vote to deny was read as unanimous.

The denial means the parcels will remain in their current residential estate restricted classification unless a future applicant returns with a different proposal. The council did not direct staff to pursue any follow‑up study or mitigation plan as part of this vote.

Proper names and locations referenced in public comment and debate include West Oak Lawn Road, I‑10, Shriners Boulevard and River Estate Circle. The developer and applicant were identified in the record as WC 4 (owner) with Raj Verma named as applicant at the planning commission, but the council vote was on the resolution to deny the zoning map amendment.