Couple set to open Biloxi bed and breakfast in 2023 didn't see lawsuit coming

Yahoo

16-05-2025

The Hoyes didn't just quit their jobs, sell their possessions and move from Wisconsin to Biloxi. They had a plan.
The couple, who have long worked in food service and hospitality, wanted to start their own business. They worked with business mentors, drew up a business plan for a bed and breakfast, and hunted for the perfect location — from South Carolina to Galveston, Texas, and elsewhere on the Gulf of Mexico.
Heidi Hoye found the couple's new home in Biloxi. It was the third or fourth property they visited and they knew when they toured the two-story brick house with a waterfront view that this was the place.
The Hoyes bought the 7,500-square-foot house in November 2021 and moved in a month later. Their real estate agent had done some homework, so they thought they would have no problem getting the city's permission for a bed and breakfast in their residential neighborhood. But their case was tied up with the city for most of 2022 and 2023.
When they finally won approval, opponents appealed to Circuit Court. Both sides are still awaiting a decision on the court appeal, filed in October 2023.
'Eighteen months is a long time to stay afloat and wait for an answer,' Heidi Hoye said.
Dan Hoye added, 'We're trying to ride it out the best we can.'
The house they bought seems to have been built with a bed and breakfast in mind. Each of the six bedrooms has a bathroom. A generous front porch wraps around to a side porch and swimming pool.
There's a pool house and living quarters over the garage. The home's interior has a historic look, even though it was built in 2004. It has 14-foot ceilings, wood floors on the first floor and an oak staircase leading to the second floor, brick fireplaces in every room and wide crown molding. A living room in front is lined with windows overlooking a small courtyard subdivision and the Mississippi Sound.
To operate a bed and breakfast, the Hoyes needed a conditional-use permit and a zoning change from medium-density residential to low-density multifamily residential. Before Hurricane Katrina, a hotel was located a short distance to the west in a business district on the beach highway, while property to the east is zoned for high-density multi-family residential development.
Their immediate neighbors live in single-family homes. When they first requested city permission for a bed-and-breakfast, the Hoyes were expecting questions from the neighbors about their business plans. They were unprepared for the packed, raucous public hearing held before the Biloxi Planning Commission, where residents wondered if the bed and breakfast would be attracting murderers and drug dealers.
'We were not prepared for that at all,' Heidi Hoye said. 'We were saying, 'This is not going well.'
'People thought we were going to come in and run a party house.'
The Hoyes took a time out. And they started renting rooms to bring in some money. By right, homeowners can offer a rental for 30 days or more. They rent mostly to traveling nurses and tenants training at Keesler Air Force Base.
They held an open house, where they served appetizers and invited guests to see for themselves that the house offered the perfect layout for a bed and breakfast. About 30 to 40 folks stopped by.
The Hoyes say neighbors who live close by have been supportive of their business plans. They've been friendly and welcoming to the Hoyes.
Those neighbors include the Lombardi-Bensons, who bought and renovated the historic Glenn Swetman home a stone's throw away.
'They're amazing people, amazing,' said Frank Lombardi-Benson. 'And they'll do a great job.'
'We're all for it. Everybody is. They have their heart and soul in what they want to do.'
The Hoyes are naturals at hosting guests. They love to cook. He is a trained chef. Her speciality is baking. They sometimes invite their tenants for dinner, just to have company and share a good meal.
They host a 'friendsgiving' Thanksgiving, Super Bowl parties and gatherings for the nonprofit Back Bay Mission.
'We love to entertain,' Dan Hoye said. His wife added: 'This is a huge, beautiful house. It should be used.'
One of their Thanksgiving guests was Katherine Blessey, who ran her own bed and breakfast in Biloxi for seven years with her husband, Walter. It was on the beach, near the Biloxi Lighthouse. She met with the Hoyes, after being introduced by a mutual friend, to talk about their plans.
Blessey had to close her bed and breakfast in 2017 when her husband passed away.
'People want a place to stay like this,' she said. 'They really do.'
'They would have the same type of hospitality we did,' she said. 'They're just charming.'
On their second try for a city permit and rezoning, the Hoyes hired an attorney. An impressive number of residents turned out to support their business venture, which passed the Planning Commission unanimously.
The City Council vote was split, but the Hoyes convinced a majority to support their plans. They were jubilant. Many of their neighbors joined them at the house to celebrate.
Ten days later, they got the call from their attorney, Wayne Hengen, who happened to grow up in the neighborhood. The news wasn't good.
Several residents had appealed the City Council's split decision — 3 in favor, two opposed and two abstentions — to Circuit Court.
Two of the women appealing the City Council's decision live in the immediate neighborhood. A third, the sister of Council member George Lawrence, lives several blocks away.
Lawrence, who voted against the bed and breakfast, did not return a telephone call seeking comment on his vote. His sister, Theresa Thompson, also failed to respond to a voicemail from the Sun Herald about the lawsuit.
The appeal claims a bed and breakfast would be out of place in the neighborhood of single-family homes and that the character of the neighborhood has not changed, one of the factors considered when property is rezoned.
But Community Development Director Jerry Creel said at one of the city hearings that the bed and breakfast ordinance was intended to accommodate houses such as the Hoyes'. Creel also said the house is in a transitional area between homes and commercial development. The Hoyes' appeal quoted his remarks.
Their opponents quoted Creel, too, saying he could point to no specific change since the commission had rejected the Hoyes' first request 16-18 months earlier.
Attorney Hengen also spoke at the hearing, saying the Hoyes had repaired extensive storm damage to the home, which had stood empty for almost 16 years. He also said the city has only two bed and breakfasts, and could use more.
The judge on the bed and breakfast case, Randi Mueller, had to recuse herself after receiving a mysterious package in the mail. The contents of the package were entered into the court file but are sealed from public view. Judge Larry Bourgeois was assigned to the case in July.
The Hoyes are trying to hold on financially until they get a ruling. They have a Plan B, but don't really want to think about selling the house.
'This community is our home and we want to stay here,' Heidi Hoye said. 'We're here for a reason — to be part of this community.'