Here is the prepared text of Mayor A.J. Holloway’s remarks made during Breakfast with the Mayor, a Biloxi Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event held Thursday, Nov. 14, 2012 at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.
Thank all of you for being here this morning.
I also want to thank Biloxi Regional for sponsoring this edition of Breakfast with the Mayor.
This morning, I want to tell you about a lot of things that we have going on in Biloxi that you may not be aware of.
Just last week, we wrapped up hosting the Southern Kingfish Association world championship fishing tournament at Point Cadet.
This is the upper echelon of fishing tournaments. You’re talking more than 200 multi-million-dollar boats that are more like yachts.
They are anywhere from 27 to 40 foot and powered by as many as four 300-horsepower outboard motors.
We had 140 of them in slips at Point Cadet, 25 more at the Palace and another 50 on trailers that were pulled by high-end tractor trailers.
We’re glad that they love it here, but let me give you an idea of the impact.
These boats come from North Carolina to Texas. They are here for about 8 days. They spent about $1,500 a day JUST IN FUEL. They have three to four people fishing on each boat, and most of those people bring their families.
That’s quite a huge impact.
We have more than 80 million dollars in projects under construction at the moment, according to the Community Development Department.
Three of the top projects – the Hard Rock, Santa Maria del Mar apartments, and the Beauvoir library — account for 80 percent of that 80 million.
That’s 24 million dollars for the Hard Rock, 24 million dollars for Santa Maria and 10 million dollars for the Beauvoir Library.
There’s a 5 million-dollar Alzheimer’s center being built at Bay Cove, 4.9 million dollars being invested in the Beauvoir Pass housing development, 2.2 million dollars for a new veterinary clinic on Oaklawn Road, the Community College culinary school on DeBuys Road, 750,000 dollars for the White Pillars restoration, and a half-million dollars for new townhomes at Petit Bois.
You’ll see new sanctuaries being built for the Pentecostal church on Popp’s Ferry Road, permitted at 5 million dollars and Leggett Memorial for three quarters of a million dollars on front beach, and 1.3 million dollars for a new pediatric center being construction on Division Street by Coastal Family Health.
We have three subdivisions – Rock Creek and Mill Creek in Woolmarket and Live Oak on Brodie Road — that will account for about 250 lots.
On top of all of that, there’s 300 million dollars in construction being proposed.
That includes the 150 million by the Golden Nugget at the Isle, 130 million for the hospital near Cedar Lake, and expansion of the Biloxi Boardwalk Marina, the new VFW on Veterans Avenue and the Arbor Landing apartments on Popp’s Ferry Road.
We have two other city projects where we are already doing site work. At the small craft harbor, we have awarded a million-dollar contract for a new bait shop and fuel dock. That project will be completed in June 2013.
We’ve also awarded an 8.5-million-dollar contract to construct a new public works administration building north of the railroad tracks on Delauney. It will be completed in September 2014.
And now, I would like to call forward Marvin G. Dalla Rosa, who is with HNTB, the firm overseeing the city’s $355 million in infrastructure work. Marvin is going to provide you an update on where that huge program of work stands.
Infrastructure update: $20 million under construction,
$16 million more in work in the offing
Comments from Marvin G. Dalla Rosa, of HNTB, the firm overseeing the city’s $355 million infrastructure repair and replacement program:
The massive $355 million Biloxi Infrastructure Repair Program is gaining momentum and progressing throughout the City.
The program includes the repair/replacement of approximately 485,000 feet of water line, 425,000 feet of sewer line, 320,000 feet of the storm drainage system, over 70 sewer pump stations and nearly 100 miles of street and roadway repair (where those components are damaged by the construction work).
While the work to date has been focused on the northern sections of the city, projects along the eastern portions are beginning to hit the street.
Total estimated value of the phases either completed or currently under construction is over $20 million. The plans for another $16 million worth are complete and hitting the streets by mid-December with an additional $13 million slated to follow within the next couple of months. This brings the total construction work under contract by early 2013 to nearly $50 million.
Work on the 6th Street Pump Station begins the first week in December. Integral to both the North and South Contracts, this very large pump station consolidates several smaller sewer pumping stations damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and is designed to better withstand future storm events.
The North Contract is a massive one. Situated north of the CSX railroad corridor, and stretching from the eastern edge of the Point west to the I-110 overpass, this work is extensive and valued at approximately $120 million.
The plans for that area are expected to be completed late first quarter of 2013 as the CSX crossing permits are finalized. For cost effectiveness and constructability, this area includes several design phases that will be advertised as one large construction contract.
The South Contract, which encompasses construction south of the CSX corridor from the Point to the I-110 interchange, is valued at approximately $95 million. The West Contract, which includes those phases from the I-110 interchange west along Highway 90 to Debuys Road, is valued at approximately $32 million.
The South and West contracts will be advertised for construction bids once the necessary construction easements along the corridor are in hand.
