Ocean Springs:
Strategies for Redevelopment
Master Planning and Guidelines for Downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Background
During the summer of 1998 three businessmen, Larry Cosper, John Blossman and Fred Moran, from the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, requested design assistance from the Small Town Center. Each businessman owns large tracts of property in the downtown area of Ocean Springs; combined, these properties exhibit potential for development, and would have a significant impact on downtown. The adjacent map indicates these properties, as well as neighboring properties, such as the First Baptist Church and the City Hall. Cosper, Blossman and Moran requested that the Small Town Center study the historic and natural environment of Ocean Springs and make suggestions on how to best use their individual properties in support of the established town. Professor Robert Craycroft organized the project as part of his third-year design studio curriculum in the fall of 1998. Fifteen students were responsible or gathering information, analyzing the existing conditions in the downtown area, and speaking to various residents and civic leaders.
Project Intentions
Cosper, Blossman and Moran wished that their properties be developed with mixed uses in mind such as office, retail and residential. It was critical that Ocean Springs maintain this area as a vital business district while remaining resident-friendly; accommodating and promoting pedestrian activity. The commercial district required better connections to other anchoring institutions of the community, such as the old Depot Building, the City Hall, and the Walter Anderson Museum. A pedestrian path within the blocks combined with the sidewalk of Washington Avenue could form a 'loop' promoting alternate routes through the downtown. Along the alternate routes particular attention was focused on improving the pedestrian orientation of the town, perhaps providing improved and new sidewalks, street lamps, and other related details. This required developing an inventory of existing parking as well as identifying strategies for new parking areas not overpowering to the pedestrian. It this planning, it was essential that the historic live oaks lining the streets and scattered throughout Ocean Springs be preserved and that more trees be planted for the future. The community needs to preserve existing green spaces and provide new ones for the proposed new development area.
The Project Approach
The project began with a trip to Ocean Springs. While there, Professor Robert Craycroft and his students worked with property owners, city officials, renters of downtown properties and members of the First Baptist Church. The students then worked to document, photograph and measure specific conditions while also trying to get a general sense for Ocean Springs. In Starkville, detailed drawings and other studies were developed to bring order to the notes and photos taken on-site. The subjects identified for further study were: existing green spaces, existing parking, existing traffic patterns, building facades and other unique and subtle conditions creating the Ocean Springs charm.
After analyzing the data, the students returned to Ocean Springs for a second visit to present their findings and began developing strategies for the redevelopment of the downtown. Two possible strategies emerged. The first identifies a mid-block pathway cutting its way through the middle of each of the properties. The second strategy is a public right-of-way (ROW) scheme that has a traditional appeal by focusing pedestrian development along the edges of each block. The students again returned to Starkville and formed teams to study and develop different aspects of the two strategies. Each team consisted of two master planners, a green space team, a parking team, a streetscape team and two groups of building-type designers (one for single-story buildings and another studying two and three-story buildings.)
Ultimately, the teams worked together throughout the semester to refine both strategies. As the semester came to a close the students developed a final presentation and received in-house criticism. In January, the fifteen students returned to Ocean Springs to present the work to the three property owners and other participants. The final piece of the project was the development of a document, which was intended to serve as a guideline and a reference for the future redevelopment of Ocean Springs.
This project started as a design studio project under Professor Robert Craycroft in the fall of 1998. Following the end of the term, five students from the studio, Todd Clark, Garrett Goodman, Wes Harp, Danellen Johnson and Julie Kern, compiled the results of the work into a form made to useful for the town.
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