Bay St. Louis city leaders continue to build comprehensive plan for the future

City officials partnered with Orion Planning and Design to construct stages of development
Council members are making plans to improve the quality of life in the Bay over the next few decades.
Published: Mar. 22, 2023 at 10:07 PM CDT

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (WLOX) - In Bay St. Louis, city leaders have their radars set to 2045.

Council members are making plans to improve the quality of life in the Bay over the next few decades.

Residents are getting a closer look at the blueprint and building the roadmap to the future.

“It’s the most important thing that a city can do,” said Kay Kell, a Bay St. Louis resident.

Bay St. Louis leaders are hitting the ground running to develop a comprehensive plan, aiming to create a stronger community in a two-decade span.

“Which is an incredibly important document for any community. It sets the basis for development policy. It guides private and public investments, and this is the first update and really creation of a new plan since 2010,” said Bob Barber with Orion Planning and Design.

Barber laid out the vision. First up, discovery.

“It contains provisions for future development patterns. The manner in which the community should grow, the environment in which the environmental considerations should be factored in and protection,” Barber said.

Citizens learned the demographics, retail opportunities, employment, and mobility of their city.

They also had the chance to weigh in on growth opportunities.

“I bring meetings to the area, and we don’t have enough public meeting spaces that have Wi-Fi capacity. When we come, we need audiovisual, and it’s difficult and it’s expensive, but that’s what our citizens need,” Kell said.

Rental home capacity is another concern for many. Residents completed an online survey with suggestions for what they’d like to have in their town.

That’ll lead to the creation of Bay St. Louis’s future.

“We’ll take the community’s vision, its goals, aspirations and formulate a comprehensive plan covering multiple aspects in the community, and finally there’s a component of implementation of the plan,” Barber said.

Orion Planning and Design will gather and review data to help structure the second phase.

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