GULFPORT, miss. (WLOX) – The unobstructed view of the back yard of the Great Southern Golf Club will change and the clubs will be silenced.
The state’s oldest golf course had to be sold because it couldn’t sustain itself, and Southern Circle resident and architect Johnny Olsen has accepted the inevitable.
“I think everyone should understand that what we’ve learned on the golf course here over the years is over with what we’ve learned,” he said.
On Monday, property developer Arbor Properties presented plans to build single-family homes with an estimated price range of $ 350,000 to just over $ 1 million.
Concerns include potential drainage problems.
Gordon Thames, president of Arbor Properties, said drainage plans include flood control for the surrounding neighborhoods.
“We will include some of their water that we are not required to use in the retention and drainage system that we will have in our development,” said Thames.
The biggest objection, however, is the developer’s plan to use this gravel road as emergency access to and from the Southern Circle.
“Unless this is a controlled emergency exit, we don’t want that,” said Olsen. “We don’t want this additional traffic.”
Thames said emergency access is required under modern codes to allow alternate access to both neighborhoods in the event the main entrance is blocked.
Olsen said he wanted anything developed to protect the property’s values and character.
Thames said it will.
“You will have a very nice single-family neighborhood that will bring a lot of vibrancy back to this part of the coast and add real estate value,” he said.
The front ninth section of the golf course is slated to close on April 30, 2022, and the golf course north of the holes was leased until June 2023.
The next public meeting on the development will be devoted to the approval process with the Gulfport Planning Commission, but there is no set date for this meeting.
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