First of four public meetings for Jackson County Resiliency Plan held in Moss Point
MOSS POINT, Miss. (WXXV) — Public meetings began on Monday for the Jackson County Resiliency Plan — aimed at improving countless aspects of daily life for its residents.
“That’s meant to take a hard look at all of our infrastructure and assets, and particularly infrastructure along our coastlines that are really vulnerable and susceptible to storm damage,” Jackson County Board of Supervisors Project Manager Matthew Hosey explained.
Shoreline erosion has proven to be a significant problem in the county, but there are other challenges that residents face. These challenges can be classified as acute shocks or chronic stressors. While acute shocks are sudden events that can cause major problems — such as hurricanes, infrastructure failures or extreme heat waves — stressors have long-term, gradual impacts.
Monday’s meeting brought community members together to discuss these challenges, ultimately giving them a say in the resiliency plan. Renee Collini, the Director of the Community Resilience Center at the Water Institute and a project partner, shared everything that the plan will take into consideration.
“We want to hear, sure, about when their roads are flooding, but we also want to hear people’s ideas around what we can do about it,” Collini said. “Also, we’re thinking about more than just floods. We’re thinking about economic growth opportunities and different risks and kind of looking at the whole picture, and then overlaying with that where our different hazards might play in with it.”
Once residents provide input, the plan moves into its next phase.
“We will take this — along with lots of other plans and studies that have happened in the region — and kind of put them all together to do… the first step is like an assessment,” Collini explained. “It’s like, ‘Okay, where are we at currently, what are those risks, where are they intersecting with where people want to go?’ And then, after this, we’ll have more meetings to start to chart the plan, to put together, ‘Okay, how do we respond to this, what are the most important things with the priority?’ And put together a way for the county to kind of walk those different things.”
Meetings are also being held in Gautier, St. Martin and the Wade-Hurley area in the coming days. The results from the resiliency plan won’t be immediate, but once they come to fruition, Collini believes that a new level of trust will be established between county residents and leaders.
“There’s confidence now that these projects will bring benefits, whether that’s protecting our shoreline, or it’s making sure that we don’t have flooding in our roads or just making sure that economic investments we’re making are going to be successful long term,” Collini said.
The project is being funded by the county using disaster funds, such as the Community Development Block Grant.
