State agency exploring potential land swap on Coast

OCEAN SPRINGS and BILOXI — Lawyers at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources are looking at a proposal to swap land and businesses the DMR owns at the Ocean Springs Harbor for acreage in Biloxi.

A DMR spokeswoman tells the Sun Herald legal discussions are taking place.

The move would enable a 168-boat storage shed and restaurant at the harbor to continue as businesses, under private ownership, and give the DMR 3.5 acres along the Back Bay to preserve.

The other alternative is what the DMR said it would do when it bought the harbor businesses almost two years ago — tear down the boat storage and return the 1.7 acres at the harbor to green space.

Ocean Springs leaders favor trying to save the boat-storage business.