Corp looking into coastal buyout

[rajncajn]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ib5MyH-...hmx4SQD8S64ME80

We've been hearing rumors of this for months now & I've even seen a map of the supposed buyout area and it looks as if my house would be included. I probably wouldn't be opposed to a buyout if the price was truly fair market value, but I certainly wish I'd know before we spent thousands of dollars & countless hours of back-breaking work rebuilding it again.

Gov't May Buy Thousands of Miss. Homes

 

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN – 14 hours ago

 

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — The federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the land into a vast hurricane-protection zone, raising anxieties that it could destroy the waterfront lives many residents are struggling to rebuild after Katrina.

 

The Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program could cost $40 billion, including buying the homes, building levees and restoring barrier islands. The land could be converted into wetlands or other public uses, such as golf courses or bike trails, but could not be sold for private development.

 

For Finley Williford, a 42-year-old boat captain, a buyout offer would have been tempting if it had come shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis home on Aug. 29, 2005.

 

But instead of leaving, he invested countless hours of labor and more than $400,000 in two new houses for his family and his father.

 

"If they had showed up a day after the storm, I probably would have taken the money. It's kind of after-the-fact now," Williford said.

 

The buyouts would be voluntary, and the Army Corps plan envisions allowing casinos, hotels and restaurants to continue operating on the coast from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi. But until the proposal becomes more focused, residents are concerned that it could spell the end of their Margaritaville-like communities, where a lifestyle of beaches and boiled shrimp has flourished for decades, and many houses are already built atop stilts.