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jeen part *}i;.tna mmimunj
jlntenance' progTami-and' In
^■:projec|Tof reconstruction^ind-
.....	.	">air of said seawall and the
/>me areas the beach Is now too	^ and streeta
p. the waters and soil under .Until 1971, the 3 cenU per^th-- waterg,of the	e	{n
ration erasoline tax known as the ;. .	. .	•	.	'.i:	t	,	.
trust for the people'of the state,
and this Board has by the abovesaid statute.been empowered.to
gallon gasoline tax known as the ‘seawall teftc’’ was used in part for a‘ beach maintenance., program*; witha, beach foreman and ,exerclae _uch iurigdiCtion over equipment,0 supported by5 ;exercise such ■ jurismction over
«i tnnM.t. tnnn nnn such water.and the soil there-budgets,.o£ $150,000.' to .$200,000 *- d	d	where-the
per year j,4n * the., j 1960s. The ,, ^ean hiS tides'Svand flow Tor .seawall.furjd disappeared when the supervisors agreed to use all r
the taxv proceeds to retire the _ The* seawall was installed un-second. Beries*of'bonds for the1 ^'der- the' 1914Tlaw.^ In <'1966,^ the Port and 'Harbor .Commission; Corps ;added the beach. Accord-The end of ^the. fund meant the, , ing to W.W, Burdin of the Corps’ end of the maintenance program 0 Coastal . Office Planning for which the" five "supervisors Division, state" and federal laws were jointly^responsible. '	that made the beach agreement
' $With erosion: of the' neglected' ^possible contain provisions that 'beach, which serves as a protec-‘; made - the : supervisors ‘ respon
Hao	a*	w«')b	KJeori nfett
\r> husuj bosiH-ncot^cj <ti ,* years of neele
M pt-ii rt'K’ o; H. v- .-.i	®
/: uiu;& rri-	Vic??
awarded;^according-,to,...beats, been available. ' Tied tp, the four-year terjia of onepv-.ance of $181,19 board, the money is allocated so,.-, before the end o that each supervisor will hav^a^,- ,,(The beat systei major, road reconstructed, dur- (county-wide r( ing, his term. For the . current ^Dividing up roac board, a total of $1.28 million has;. . .equal parts serve «KVrt. ftRB ftiiiia nwob teqq....
f tive* berm>- to ' the adjoining sible for maintenance of / boulevard, the road has suffered"?:beach, after its completion. •*.major damiige with each storm;
^battering JJie -Coast.-Repairs £ were, mads, with a federal disaster grant in 1971. and again in.
1982. Both jobs were only partial restorations, and without replenishing the slind beach and keep-*
- ing the-seawall in good repair,
V the road was and is vulnerable.
* *
I iiNow the '• supervisors have created a committee of planners t and,representatives of the,two k cities * to “ plan a! beach ’ main-tenance program; without which y no state or federal agency'would •'considerr granting restoration 5 money; Some participants as-‘tsume that a> new. tax will be ^imposed for the program. No one *' appears to be assuming that the supervisors should use a portion ...of their road and bridge funds *"for this purpose.
' *”! One of the first tasks of the ■'committee is to determine who .'has jurisdiction over the road,'”
-.which runs through Bay St.*
the
. At least since 1971, nobody has maintained^ the*J)each" and seawall.'	■'* i. .:-A\:.	..
*'b* • rs * •	*• ■=	T nfVJ
*' Certainly a maintenance plan would be welcomeT but the problem now is that there isn’t much left to maintain without major reconstruction. And the usual question .is, who pays.,
Since the taxpayers'contribute $1.5 million for road and bridge maintenance in<the jcounty, it seems reasonable to ask how the supervisors decide to spend this money.	•*
Last year, a representative of the Garden Isles Community Association appealed to the supervisors to create and publicize a -planned-program of priorities. He was told that this would not be politically feasible.
Under a joint plan of priority needs in the county, the beach, seawall and adjoining boulevard, could receive the attention, they' have been denied for years. But
Louis, Waveland,^ and.,, unin-_ - the political realities of the beat
^.corporated areas.£As for the ' beach and the* seawall, the record appears to indicate that ‘ their maintenance is clearly a
•	-county responsibility.	n
j In 1966, when the Corps of Engineers pumped in the beach,
*	the board issued an order that all pilings .and-piers be removed so
system require^that each supervisor spend his money in his own district. The beach road has cut through all five beats, but under the ’new ^district lines, 'Beat‘ 2-does not include portions of the beach.
Even State Aid money for highway construction .is


Hancock County Beach-newspaper-article-1983-(2)
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