The City of Gulfport Ordinances Chapter 9, Article III established Sec. 9-47 to regulate subdivision development, and the intent of these ordinance is “to provide for the harmonious development of the city; for the coordination of streets within subdivisions with other existing or planned streets or with other features of the master plan; for adequate and convenient open spaces for traffic, utilities, recreation, light and air; and for a distribution of population and traffic that will tend to create conditions favorable to health, safety, convenience or prosperity.”

Arbor’s site plan for developing the front nine of the former Great Southern Golf Course, exhibited below, shows the presence of 177 homes does not fulfill the intent of the above ordinance. This excessive density is the source of many other problems for the neighbors and the environment: destruction of the character of the surrounding neighborhoods in violation of city ordinances, drainage and flooding issues, pollution of the Mississippi Sound, traffic jams, overcrowding of an area school requiring building more classrooms, destruction of historic and protected trees, and negative environmental impact on wildlife and their habitat. Arbor’s general plan approved by the Planning Commission in June 2022 is 6.7 times denser than the combined average number of the homes in the four surrounding neighborhoods with similar size acreage.

Note: The Code of Ordinances (Ch. 9, Article III) on SUBDIVISIONS, Sections 9-50 states: “Where a residential subdivision adjoins land zoned for or used for a railroad right-of-way, . . . which would have a depreciating effect on the residential use of the land, a buffer park strip may be required by the Planning Commission. The Arbor plan shows houses built next to the railroad tracks without a buffer park.