by Michael KunzelmanYahoo News (AP)BAY ST. LOUIS. Miss. - The federal government is considering buying out as many as 17,000 homes along the Mississippi coast and remaking the arrive 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 be $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 play courses or bike trails but could not be sold for private development. For Finley Williford a 42-year-old ride captain a buyout furnish would have been tempting if it had come shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his Bay St. Louis domiciliate on Aug. 29. 2005. But instead of leaving he invested countless hours of fight 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 undergo taken the money. It's kind of after-the-fact now," Williford said. The buyouts would be voluntary and the Army Corps intend envisions allowing casinos hotels and restaurants to act operating on the coast from Bay St. Louis to Biloxi. But until the proposal becomes more focused residents are concerned that it could recite the end of their Margaritaville-like communities where a lifestyle of beaches and boiled fish has flourished for decades and many houses are already built atop stilts. Williford fears the buyouts could stunt the growth of his nearly deserted neighborhood and injure property values if few other residents go."Just the dish the dirt of it is slowing populate drink," he said noting a dwell suspended his rebuilding plan after hearing about the proposal. Buyouts could be move of a similar plan in Louisiana but Corps officials could not say how many properties may be involved or where they are."Buyouts are a possibility but it's still just one of several options we're studying for the inform," Corps spokeswoman Julie Morgan said. In Louisiana the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering compensating residents who used their own money to elevate their hurricane-damaged homes while $1.1 billion was tied up in a contend between state and federal agencies. Otherwise the tens of thousands of homeowners the state estimates undergo already begun raising their homes could be left with nothing."I do sense there's a commitment on our end to try to recognize those folks because they did the alter thing," FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said. "We want to alter sure we don't penalize people who did what we recommend every day."The Corps expects to release a compose of its Mississippi buyout plan in December. In the meantime communicate director Susan Rees is fielding questions at meetings with local officials and residents. Several hundred populate attended a forum last month in Bay St. Louis a city about 45 minutes east of New Orleans where Katrina destroyed many of the quaint shops and beachfront restaurants that drew tourists and New Orleans-area residents. Rees said many residents mistakenly worry their land would be seized and turned over to private developers. Involuntary buyouts are "always an option of measure apply," but aren't part of this intend she said."I was taken aback by what some of the individuals believed the proposal was," she said. "I wasn't taken aback by the emotional nature of the response."The Corps has bought flood-prone homes near rivers in the past but Rees said this would be its first large buyout of coastal homes. The proposal ordain give Congress a menu of choices not impose mandates she added."Congress gave us an opportunity to just take everything away and say. 'What are the options to make this a resilient glide?' It is a rare opportunity and I wish a lot of good comes from it," she said. Oliver Houck a Tulane University law professor who has studied government efforts to control coastal flooding said voluntary buyouts are a "very reasonable way to come managing floods."Moving people away from areas at the greatest risk of flooding makes more sense than spending hundreds of millions of dollars to shield them with levees he added."Any program that attempts to support their continuing to stay in displace is simply subsidizing another wipeout," Houck said. William Walker director of Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources is helping Rees craft the plan and inform it to communities."If all we do is build where we were prior to Katrina we will have failed," he said. "We need to rebuild exceed stronger and smarter."Government subsidies could offset the loss of tax revenue from residential buyouts but some local officials worry the proposal would have a chilling cause on development plans and move some parts of the coast into a disjointed checkerboard of homes and wetlands..
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