WAVELAND, Miss. – What so far has been spotty progress in replacing the thousands of dwellings wiped out across Hancock County by Hurricane Katrina appears poised to morph into the biggest residential construction boom the county has ever seen.
From single homes in Waveland being lovingly rebuilt by church volunteers, to north county subdivisions where dozens of houses will soon rise, “People are really starting to pick up the pace,” says Mickey Lagasse, the county’s chief building official. “I think we’re going to see a huge boom in construction in the next few years.”
For weeks and months after the storm, there was very little action as builders and owners of destroyed or damaged homes waited for lots to be cleared, insurance companies to settle -- or not -- and new building requirements to become clear.
By late April, eight months after the storm, Bay St. Louis had issued permits to replace or build “only about 14 or 15 homes,” says Donna Billingsley of the building department. The pace of repair work has been much more rapid, with a total of 2,065 permits issued, and Billingsley believes the town is about to explode with residential construction because “it’s been crazy lately” with homeowners and builders requesting information.
Home-building in neighboring Waveland also got off to a slow start after Katrina, but 51 houses are now under construction with 16 more in the wings, says chief building official Otis Sharpe. “We’re blowing and going.”
'I don't think I will be able to keep up'
Sharpe says he spends most of his week answering questions for homeowners and builders at the city’s makeshift complex of portable buildings at Coleman and Central avenues, helping them apply for permits and fill out other paperwork. He checks plans and blueprints on the weekends. “Soon, I don’t think I will be able to keep up,” he says.
Dan McManus' home on Nicholson Avenue is among 51 houses now under construction in Waveland.
County building officials also have been busy, says Lagasse, with 250 to 300 new homes started in unincorporated areas since the storm. That’s lower than the pre-Katrina average of permits for about 80 new homes and mobile homes a month, but Lagasse expects recent subdivision applications to make that number shoot up.
And two giant multi-housing projects also could soon be under way, one bringing more than 1,000 new apartment units to the Lakeshore area and 1,200 condominiums to Bayou Caddy. The condos, to be built near the new Silver Slipper Casino, remain on hold while opponents appeal an adverse ruling on their lawsuit.
Another big player in the new housing game will be Habitat for Humanity, which plans to help up to 1,000 families in the hurricane zone build homes with its sweat-equity, interest-free-loan program.
The Christian-based nonprofit is just getting started in building homes on the more than 50 lots it has acquired in Waveland and Bay St. Louis and hopes to buy a large parcel that could support up to 100 homes in Bay St. Louis, according to local Habitat director Wendy MacDonald.
Expedited zoning process urged
MacDonald, itching to get Habitat clients out of FEMA trailers and into new homes as soon as possible, is hoping the planning and construction process can be speeded up in Bay St. Louis through more frequent meetings of the city’s zoning board, an idea she says the city council agreed to explore last week. The current single monthly meeting means builders, including Habitat, have to plot some of their moves five to seven weeks in advance of picking up a shovel.
Across the storm area, builders say the biggest challenge to moving more quickly is not government red tape. “Our problems are labor and materials,” says Don Halle, secretary-treasurer of the Home Builders Association of the Gulf Coast. “We’re looking at it right now like we’re not really into the full rebuild yet.”
Halle, an owner of Gulf Construction Co. and a member of the state board of contractors, says work has really picked up for his firm in the last month or two, as owners of demolished homes have received their insurance settlements, signed up for grant money and pulled the trigger on rebuilding. Still, many people “are still taking a wait-and-see attitude, especially along the beach. They’re real unsure about what they’re going to do,” he says.
Despite that, Halle’s firm, which typically builds 50 homes a year but is “quite capable of doubling that in the coming year,” is getting booked up like most other builders. “If it gets any worse from here, it’s going to take a long time to get a house built,” he says, from an average of five to six months to eight or nine.
Watching over the push to rebuild in Bay St. Louis is Rhode Island architect Bill Dennis, who led the planning process there as part of Gov. Haley Barbour’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal.
'Some areas could be better than ... before'
With prodding from a “core group” of residents, land owners and builders to preserve the town’s pre-Katrina charm and character, Dennis said after a recent trip to town, “some of the areas could be better than they were before.”
As to quickening the pace, Dennis has helped interested builders in the hurricane areas explore possibilities for manufactured housing. And he too points to issues with insurance, codes and shortages as hobbling efforts so far. He also expects many folks to wait through another storm season, which starts June 1, before fully committing to rebuilding.
“You will see a lot of thing start in October, November. I would expect by next spring, you will see a lot more,” Dennis says. “I think right now people are planting bulbs and in the spring we’ll see flowers.”
The dangers that lurk beneath
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New Orleans and surrounding areas are poised to have one of the greatest housing booms in America this year. I'm so happy. I'm going to be a part of its rise. Black people from all over the USA should take note and join in. Do it now before its too late.
Donald B., Los Angeles, Calif. (Sent May 7, 2006 4:14:07 PM)
From the pictures above it is clear that the same mistakes are being made in the rebuild effort.
Conventional frame construction, no reinforced roof trusses, sparse use of concrete block and stucco - are there no building codes or is that too much big government?
GMJ TAMPA FLORIDA (Sent May 7, 2006 7:30:52 PM)
i can't believe that they're not using concrete block to build these new houses with! almost all of our houses in SW florida are CBS (concrete block stucco) for the very reason of wind and water damage.
steven r (Sent May 7, 2006 8:05:52 PM)
John from Denver opines
Safest thing to do is move. It's a pond with inadequate walls to gaurantee that water will stay out. why expect any assistance from anyone when you are deciding to stay in an area that will surely get hit again.
Mr JOHN.....Coastal MS IS NOT BELOW SEA LEVEL.
IT IS ABOVE SEA LEVEL. IT IS NOT A BOWL TO BE
FILLED. IT HAS A COASTLINE SO IT WOULD BE A NEAT
TRICK FOR IT TO BE BELOW SEA LEVEL.
Physics 101. Check it out.
J., BSL (Sent May 7, 2006 9:30:19 PM)
It`s foolish to think a hurricane won`t happen again, sooner or later it will. Just like the storms in California that were supposed to happen every 100 years, well we have had two 100 year storms in the last 20 years. So much for prediction. You can`t stop Mother Nature, but you can build and maintain a better leeve system therefore cutting in half the potential for destruction and deal only with a hurricane. Concrete done right will hold-up under a hurricane and reduce the amount of loss and the money needed to re-build.
Ed Walters Stockton, California (Sent May 7, 2006 10:08:44 PM)
I think it's obvious the potential for damage that the homeowners on the coast have, to all that criticize the efforts to rebuild. If you do not support the rebuilding effort than don't participate and don't donate. That is a right that you have, but please let the individuals that are doing all they can to get back to their feet, do exactly that without the criticizm from you.
Mike Okinawa, Japan (Sent May 7, 2006 10:38:15 PM)
I guess it's coming through loud and clear - all of us stupid people living in hurricane country have been welcomed to relocate to CALIFORNIA and COLORADO. Would the people telling us that we should not stay here please send information about housing, jobs etc. Of course you need to move over and make room for all the people that will be coming your way. And since we are so stupid then we're gonna be hell to have to live near. We'll be bringing pollution and crime with us also. Now who sounds more stupid - me for being born and raised here and doing the best I can to raise a family or you for making comments that are worthless!!!
frank, Gulfport, MS (Sent May 8, 2006 2:05:04 PM)
LOL!...frank, i think you made your point...i mean who are these people advising Mississippians to move...like they would really like ME as a neighbor cause they could be redneckized!!!
andy,ms (Sent May 9, 2006 9:31:38 AM)
OK - the ground is too soggy and unstable to support concrete construction, and wood will not withstand hurricane force winds...Let's build it anyway! Then we can go through all this again! Brilliant.
jack jones - plano tx (Sent May 9, 2006 10:08:33 AM)
Jack Jones, Plano TX, writes:
OK - the ground is too soggy and unstable to support concrete construction, and wood will not withstand hurricane force winds...Let's build it anyway! Then we can go through all this again! Brilliant.
It's not axiomatic that wood cannot withstand hurricane force winds. Many homes, including mine, withstood Katrina with little damage save for what was done by flood. If you do it right, absolutely right, wood can work. The contractor who renovated my house also built many homes in Pass Christian and elsewhere, and his homes are, in many places, the only ones standing in the neighborhood.
J., BSL (Sent May 9, 2006 3:43:47 PM)
To Frank from Gulfport: What people from other states are saying is, that if you continue to rebuild in hurricane alley, without using stronger materials, i.e., concrete instead of wood, and if GW and his cronies on Capitol Hill don't give the states enough money to rebuild the levees properly, then rebuilding is a dangerous thing. As a tax payer, energy and gasoline consumer, the economist in me doesn't feel like our expenses should go up when hurricane ravaged areas get obliterated, b/c people aren't rebuilding properly. The human being in me, doesn't want to see more people die in those areas either. And please believe, us Californians have the same reaction to people in this state, who live in flood and mountain-slide zones, who are on TV crying every year, when their house slides down a mountain, and then continue to proclaim they are going to rebuild.
Mariah, Hayward, CA (Sent May 9, 2006 6:42:29 PM)
I am staying at the Isle of Capri casino hotel in Biloxi,Mississippi. This is my first trip to the Gulf Coast since Katrina. I am from Florida and have watched all the attention that New Orleans has been getting by the media. I wish they would focus on the Biloxi/Gulfport and other areas of the Gulf Coast. These people are rebuilding without all the whining and constant griping about the GOVERNMENT. This hotel is a beehive of rebuilding effort, and I understand that the Beau Rivage will open in August. I would like to see that reopening covered by MSNBC reporters.
Carol Milner (Sent May 10, 2006 4:11:04 AM)
i may have been misunderstood....i wasn't talking about concrete blocks....instead i was speaking of poured concrete outside walls reinforced with steel...A FORT....there forever...then put ya stucco on and make it look pretty!...it's expensive...but ain't no damn hurricane gonna move it
andy,ms (Sent May 11, 2006 9:27:06 AM)
Well, sounds good all except for the stucco. My house has a stucco exterior finish, but I live in Arizona where it only rains 2 inches a year if we're lucky. It's made for desert climate, not humid gulf coast climate. But your on concept is sound. The latest trend I'm aware of is interconnecting commercial grade styrofoam cinder blocks. They go together like a huge puzzle to form the exterior walls, get reinforced with steel re-bar which attach to the foundation, then the foam blocks get filled with concrete. Supposedly, these buildings are inexpensive, very efficient, can take the force of a car slamming into them at speed and still hold strong. I'm surprised Hurricane proof technologies like this are not saturating the latest cable DIY shows "Yet". I want royalties if anyone decides to make a tv show out of that idea.
Matt H, Chandler, AZ formerly Gautier, MS (Sent May 11, 2006 6:53:58 PM)
O.K. john denver{don't you sang rocky mountion hi?}...we'll pick up the truck ...and be ya new neighbors...bring da coon dog..my son is as big as Jethro, wife's pretty as Ellie May...i wear a hat...kinda looks like Jed's...shoot i'll bring my mom....she's crankier than granny...and pretty damn good with a shotgun....see ya soon!!!
andy,ms (Sent May 12, 2006 9:02:27 AM)
andy, ms. been reading your posts for months and sure got the biggest laugh about moving out to CO. Wouldn't they all be shocked if the rednecks decended upon them. Keep it up and put 'um in their place..God Bless you...
peggy, naples, fla. (Sent May 13, 2006 7:52:03 PM)
Well, well ,its wonderful to sit their in your Ca.,Ny.,Co. Homes and potificate on the building structures down here in the N.O.La. and Gulfcoast area.Did we not rebuild Chicago;after the fire,San Francisco;after the quacks,homes along the Mississippi river in the Heartland:a couple of times: that I can remember....
This is not just about homes or businesses , its about rebuilding lives , keeping families together and being part of something.(Like a city that you were born and raised in ! ) To all you fine American's that love to come down to the Gulfcoast and New Orleans to eat and party .......... in this Bowl,"WHY DON'T YOU TAKE SOME OF THOSE SICK DAYS OR YOUR VACATION DAYS AND COME DOWN HERE AND SHOW US HOW TO REBUILD YOURWAY!!!!!!!!!!!
YAUL' HAVE A MIGHTY FINE DAY AND THANKS FOR THE ADVICE" D.J. Landry From N.O. La.
P.S. These cities have been in tack for hundreds of years.....
D.J. Landry,New Orleans, Louiaiana (Sent May 14, 2006 7:31:43 AM)
Can someone explain that if concrete is so durable then why do the highways and bridges look like dominoes, and even the casinos made of steel structures are totally gone?
Kimberly, Richland MS (Sent May 14, 2006 6:28:09 PM)
Just a couple of question to all of the people who think the Gulf Coast should not be rebuilt: Do you like to be able to heat your house in Washington State in the winter? Or drive your car to work in California. Oil from the gulf of Mexico is necessary to keep this country running. As are the deep water ports and refineries along the coast that bring you oil and other imported goods and food. And while these jobs may not be glamorous they are necessary and the Coast is where they live! Of course rebuild the magnifican Coast. Will there be another Katrina? Maybe, but there will be more tornadoes in Utica, Illinois, and mud slides and earthquakes in northern California. At least the Mississippi Coast gives us good seafood, great people and a unique culture!
Jennifer , formerly of Waveland (Sent May 14, 2006 8:45:50 PM)
How can I purchase a Katrina Cottage for waveland, MS?
Deborah Bush Waveland, Mississippi 39576 (Sent May 15, 2006 8:52:45 PM)
Andy, The west is always open to good folks! The population here is booming, but the water isn't. Denver is a huge water hog and is a sprawling traffic mess. I'd pick a lovely town in the mountains, if I were you. The whole family would fit right in.
Laurie, CO (Sent May 16, 2006 11:12:51 AM)
I was building a home on Whispering Pines Drive in Waveland. We poured our slab in early August; had the first load of framing lumber delivered on Friday; Katrina hit on Monday.
We are not returning.
The lot is 109 feet wide, 114 feet deep, and was surveyed to be 15.7 feet above mean sea level. We brought in fill and elevated the slab another 2 feet. A contractor hired by the Corps of Engineers cleared the lot. The slab is intact.
At the corner of Whispering Pines and Aiken Road is an empty lot. My lot is next to this empty lot as you go toward the beach.
You can have our plans and build to those plans. Or -- the slab was poured with a continuous footer around the perimeter and with four footers running under the slab where the main walls of the house would have been. You can drill into the slab above the footers, anchor rebar vertically, build piers around the rebar, and build a house on piers using the slab for parking and storage under the house.
Anyone interested in buying this lot -- leave a message here with contact information.
Joe, Tennessee (Sent May 16, 2006 10:11:59 PM)
Just so all of you know, the concrete house across the street as well as our brick houses and the solid "hurricane proof" houses all went down as easy as the frame houses. To Sean in Wa., maybe you shouldn't be allowed to have insurance because of a volcano, or an earthquake. We should in that case close down all coastal areas as well as California, and the midwest because of natural disasters. There is no safe place. This earth we live on is very uncertain. Remember the ice age? This is where we are from, our heritage our ancestory. We don't tell you where to live. If everyone lived in total fear of all natural disasters where would we all go that is totally safe? And PLEASE TO NOT REFER TO US AS MORONS!!! And to Mariah in California, we in Mississippi have nothing to do with the levees in Louisiana. FYI
Marybeth Gex Denney, Waveland, Mississippi (Sent May 18, 2006 1:05:49 PM)
To Mariah from california: How much since does your comment make that our coast should not be rebuilt in Mississippi? When yal'LL rebuilt on a fault? I don't appreciate my tax dollars being used for that stupidity either. Get a life. Ron M. Brandon,Ms.
Ron Mcclelland (Sent May 18, 2006 2:04:20 PM)
Peggy....rednecks is a kind word....We in N.E. Mississippi....are really Hillbilly's....don't no one want us ta move in next door!!!....except MAYBE Larry the Cable Guy!...."Gitter Done"...I kill skunks ...out of my bathroom window ....with a shotgun....sometimes a fox...turkey...deer....on and on......
andy,ms (Sent May 18, 2006 6:45:51 PM)
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