City of Moss Point planning stormwater park to reduce flooding

The City of Moss Point is planning a new stormwater park to help reduce neighborhood flooding and improve water quality.

The project would turn a vacant lot behind St. Joseph Catholic Church into a space for stormwater management and public recreation.

Jakira Hunt with the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center spoke with residents about the plans.

For years, this plot of land behind St. Joseph Catholic Church in Moss Point sat vacant.

Now, the city is partnering with the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to turn it into a stormwater park.

Isaac Davison, who has lived next to the property for four decades, says he’s glad the land will be put to use. “I’m always for something positive because that’s what makes life better for people.”

Known as “The River City,” Moss Point sits near the Escatawpa and Pascagoula rivers.

The city’s aging drainage system struggles to handle heavy rainfall, leaving neighborhoods like Rose Drive vulnerable to flooding.

Margo Posten with the Grand Bay reserve says the park is designed to capture stormwater and filter out pollutants before they reach local waterways. “When it rains, it’ll capture the water, it’ll reduce flooding, and it’ll also reduce the nutrients that’s going to end up in the Escatawpa by filtering it through the system.”

The park would use plants and soil to filter runoff and a detention pond to temporarily hold up to 300,000 gallons of stormwater during heavy rain.

That water would gradually drain into the city’s existing drainage system within 72 hours.

During dry weather, the space would serve as a public park. “They’ll have a walkway. There’ll be trees. There’ll be one little section where you could have where you could have like play equipment. So, you know, parents, grandparents can bring their kids and the kids can play.”

Skip Wieniewitz, a parishioner at St. Joseph Catholic Church, says church members are glad the property will benefit the community. “We were able to put it out in the church and people look at it and say, okay, yeah, we feel better about this. Rather than selling it for housing that, you know, it just wouldn’t work out for the church and the property.”

Posten says once work begins, the park could take two to three years to finish.

The city has already bought the land and secured money to plan the park. Right now, it’s waiting on construction funding to start work.