Greg Gipson walked out of a federal appeals court in Louisiana last week feeling a bit more hopeful about a case that was dismissed in Mississippi over his historic neighborhood’s designation.
Gipson and other residents drove 93 miles from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to New Orleans to persuade a panel of federal judges to reconsider whether their city officials denied their due process rights when they didn’t notify them their neighborhood was labeled a “slum” or “blighted.” Mississippi code defines slum or blighted as areas with a substantial number of deteriorating structures, dilapidation, and unsanitary or unsafe conditions.
For two years, the city of Ocean Springs has been in a legal fight with Gipson, other Black residents, a white business owner and the Macedonia Baptist Church (where Gipson is chairman of the finance committee).
Gipson’s neighborhood was added to an urban renewal plan covering 320 acres. In their legal complaint, residents said city officials failed to individually notify the property owners of the blight designation and the 10-day period to contest it, which they say violates their right to due process.
The city argued in its response to the complaint that their designation of blighted areas is a “legislative decision” and not subjected to due process.
A Mississippi judge dismissed the case last year, stating that Mississippi law does not require individual notice “for these types of legislative decisions” and the city removed the disputed properties from the urban renewal area.
“In a way, the Plaintiffs have already won,” U.S. District Court Judge Taylor McNeel wrote in his opinion.
Gipson, and the others disagreed. Even though their properties were removed, they don’t trust their city officials to do the right thing in the future. They appealed the decision.
Now, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that heard oral arguments in the case on Jan. 7 will decide whether the district court erred in its decision. Dana Berliner, senior vice president and litigation director for the Institute for Justice, fears that hundreds of thousands of people across Mississippi may be affected by this.
“This a challenge to Mississippi law, so it will certainly set a precedent for the entire state, but it will set a due process precedent that will be important to people everywhere,” said Berliner, who is representing Ocean Springs property owners.
What’s happening for property owners in Ocean Springs, a city of 18,400 where Black people are 7% of the population, mirrors a decades-old cycle of taking over Black neighborhoods for the sake of economic development. For decades, municipalities across the country have used urban renewal policies to get rid of blight and improve their cities and towns to construct highways, housing, and other commercial projects.
One of the most popular tools is eminent domain, a centuries-old practice that allows the government to take private property for “public use” but must provide “just compensation.” The use of eminent domain disproportionately impacts minority and low-income communities and leads to displacement.
Ocean Springs’ officials had not initiated the eminent domain process, or condemned any properties, but they could decide to do so at a later date. Because Mississippi law doesn’t require individual notice to contest blighted areas, many property owners miss the 10-day window to appeal.
By the time eminent domain proceedings begin, if the project moves forward, it’s too late to challenge it, Berliner said.
“The core requirement under the U.S. Constitution is that people have an opportunity to be heard opposing things that the government does to restrict their liberty or take their property. It’s not like [providing] notice is a big deal. They need to send a letter,” Berliner told Capital B.
The attorneys representing the city of Ocean Springs — Anthony Liberato, Robert Wilkinson, and William Norman — did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Wilkinson was the city’s attorney for 25 years before resigning last year.
273 days on display and no one knew
Black owned homes and properties listed in the proposed urban renewal area by Ocean Springs officials. (Institute for Justice)
Since 2022, city officials have been discussing the possibility of an urban renewal plan, according to the defendants’ motion to dismiss the lawsuit. They allege they publicly displayed the plan at City Hall for 273 days before adopting a resolution on April 4, 2023.
Gipson had no clue.
He received a text message from a friend, telling him to “look at this document because they are looking to take your property,” he said.
People in the community were in an uproar. He began to reach out to others and organize the community to figure out next steps. They argued their homes and properties were well-maintained and didn’t meet the slum or blighted labels. They later learned the local government could demolish, condemn, or acquire their properties using eminent domain, if it moves forward with an urban renewal plan, according to Mississippi code.
After showing up to meetings and filing the lawsuit in October 2023, the city rescinded its resolution two months later, which omitted their properties.
“When you’re in the communities where your voice is not being heard because you’re not represented, you’re always in a minority,” Gipson said. “But when you galvanize and have a grassroot movement and have a plan in place to be able to talk about the facts and show it in black and white, people listen and they learn.”
But, Gipson and others continued the lawsuit, hoping to challenge the Mississippi law and mandate municipalities to inform property owners of these designations that may impact their homes and livelihoods.
Until then, members of the Macedonia Baptist Church, where Gipson serves, check City Hall “to make sure that nothing’s happening,” Berliner, the attorney, told Capital B. “But cannot be sustained into eternity.”
Gipson encourages other communities to be registered voters and active in their local government to avoid the circumstances their residents went through.
“You need to show up at the planning commission. You need to serve on those boards because that’s where decisions are being made and where all the major players are at those tables,” he said.