Council tables Division Street concrete funding after residents, members raise concerns

The Biloxi City Council voted 5–2 on July 28 to table a funding-transfer for a project that would pour concrete strips along parts of Division Street, citing constituent opposition and concerns about underground utilities and lost planting opportunities. Council members said they want to inspect the site before authorizing the remaining funds.

Staff told the council there is about $147,000 of state bond funds already allocated and an estimated $256,000 total cost to extend concrete from sidewalk to curb in select narrow strips; staff proposed adding roughly $90,000 from a repair project to complete the work. Councilman Gray, who moved to table, said constituents reported strips ranging from “6 to 12 foot” and asked that members see the area for themselves. Christie (city staff) said much of the corridor contains utilities between curb-to-curb that make planting trees infeasible and that the vote before the council was to transfer money for the work rather than to physically start pouring concrete.

Councilman Marshall, while supporting development generally, pressed for a clearer calculation of the long-term maintenance costs the city assumes when it accepts new roads and subdivisions. Mayor Miller and staff said some of the funds are state reappropriations with timing constraints and that the proposed concrete was intended to reduce repeated labor-intensive edging.

Christie told the council any alteration would require reapproval from the funding authority — the current plan took three years to secure approval. The council set a target to revisit the item at the next meeting on August 4 after councilmembers inspect Division Street. "Any alteration would require trying to get approval again," Christie said, explaining the time it took to win the current authorization.