Disaster as a Springboard for Opportunity

The devastation Hurricane Katrina brought to the Mississippi Gulf Coast last year is historic. Coastal cities from Waveland and Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, saw heavy damage to 80 to 90 percent of commercial and residential structures as far as half a mile inland. An estimated 57,000 housing units sustained severe damage or were destroyed altogether. One year later, more than 100,000 individuals live in FEMA-provided travel trailers and mobile homes.

Today, communities throughout the Hancock-Harrison-Jackson county region are determined to build better, stronger cities. Following the lead of Governor Haley Barbour, who quickly established a statewide Governor’s Commission for Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, individual communities are creating their own local commissions to develop action plans. When the Governor’s commission completed its work last December, the governor established his Office of Recovery and Renewal to focus on implementing disaster recovery activities.

Innovative Approaches
“The general sentiment in coastal Mississippi is a sense of resilience,” says Gavin Smith, Ph.D., director of the Mississippi Office of Recovery and Renewal. “The people have been traumatized, understandably so. Yet, they’re looking at how to rebuild and how to make the best of their situation.”

Smith is one of several PBS&J employees staffing the office established by Governor Barbour to guide the state’s long-term rebuilding strategy. His team is helping communities navigate an array of federal, state, nonprofit, foundation, and corporate assistance. The office is also providing policy counsel to the governor, state agencies, and local government officials regarding the numerous post-disaster recovery decisions that must be made on a daily basis.

For example, the office is working to change the way FEMA provides post-disaster emergency housing. The state envisions a Mississippi-based industry to mass-produce modular homes to reduce or eliminate the use of travel trailers for temporary housing. The structure, which would be built off-site and brought into neighborhoods, could serve as an improved mid-term housing solution while a permanent home was built on the homeowner’s lot. Or it could be expanded horizontally or vertically to become a permanent residence.

“This concept, called the ‘Mississippi cottage,’ may change the model for how FEMA provides post-disaster housing assistance,” says Smith.

Reducing Risk
The next challenge is in rebuilding permanent homes. Cities want to match the look of the original houses, while creating something safer to face the next storm. With new flood elevation maps set to become state law within six months, homes located in the floodplain that received greater than 50-percent damage, or new construction located within the floodplain, will have to be elevated. The suggestions, presented in a pattern book for Gulf Coast neighborhoods, are in keeping with the region’s traditional architecture. FEMA has recently published a new document that shows how homes can be elevated while incorporating design features that more closely reflect the architectural history of the dwelling.

Bay St. Louis lost many of its historic houses to the storm. The city plans to preserve its small-town character and architectural heritage with zoning and building codes that outline desirable architectural features and more hurricane-resistant construction approaches. Regardless of the prevailing styles, the state has strongly advised communities to build to the new advisory base-flood elevation maps. However, each community can make its own decision until the maps are finalized. The city of Ocean Springs, for example, has adopted a building code that raises elevations one foot higher than FEMA’s recommendations.

A Process for Recovery
As the world watches Mississippi’s progress, there are valuable lessons to be learned. “We’re not just rebuilding homes and businesses here,” says PBS&J’s Jae Park, Ph.D., chief policy analyst for the Mississippi Office of Recovery and Renewal. “We’re examining the whole process of community building.”

So how does a community respond when so many homes, businesses, and elements of infrastructure have been leveled—when a city must start, almost literally, from a slate wiped clean?

According to Park, local leaders must begin by considering:

• What is best for the community—its residents and businesses—for the long term.
• The implications of policies, from land-use planning to hazard mitigation.
  
• How best to engage the public in making the decisions, especially a public dispersed for reasons beyond their control.
  
• How residents can get on with their lives while decisions are made and rebuilding begins.

In the case of Mississippi’s affected three-county area, the geographic distances between towns are not great, and yet each community possesses its own distinct style. For example, Bay St. Louis is home to artisans and classic shotgun-style homes, while the Biloxi/Gulfport area is noted for its waterfront hotels and gaming casinos. Today, each community is taking care to inject its unique flavor into its plans for recovery.

An Opportunity to Grow “Smarter”
With the widespread devastation has come opportunity. The governor’s office has brought in architects and planners to evaluate options and encourage the use of “smart codes” and other land-use tools without mandating compliance.

“The state’s position is to offer options communities might want to consider,” explains Gavin Smith. And local leaders are responding.

Bay St. Louis’s plans include networked streets that lend themselves to more foot and bicycle travel. Gulfport has designed a citywide network of parks and plans to develop the port into a combined resource for industrial interests as well as tourism, commercial space, and cultural development. Some cities, including Pass Christian, have proposed new designs for large retail outlets, such as Wal-Mart, to better complement both the local style and updated transit plans. Others are looking at coastal easements as a means to set aside open space.

“The story here is that Mississippi’s coastal communities are seeing opportunity knocking at their doors and are taking the ball and running with it,” says Smith.