Pinehills neighborhood

The Pinehills neighborhood along 28th Avenue was funded by Hattiesburg Homestead Corporation, which was created under the Federal Public Housing Commision in 1935 during the Great Depression. Twenty-five houses were created in a circle. On each plot, two apple and two pear trees were planted (some are still around). HoFC mentions that one family rented a 4.5 acre homestead for $15.43 per month. The neighborhood was annexed by Hattiesburg in 1966.

"Tradition" subdivision

In late 2006 a developer proposed a twenty-five home residential development called Tradition just north of Pinehills. Each two-story townhouse would be about 2000 to 2500 square feet and sit on 4000 square foot lots. In addition, the developer planned to build three larger Victorian style houses on 10000 square foot lots.

The current agricultural zoning requirements specify that lot sizes must be at least an acre, or almost 45000 square feet. Efforts of the developer to get the City Council to rezone Pinehills to allow smaller sized lots were controversial, with some residents of Pinehills worried the new subdivision would detract from the traditional look of the neighborhood. In addition, some residents said they were worried about privacy, since some of the two-story townhouses could look down into neighboring backyards.

A compromise was reached between developers and the residents of the neighborhood. The developer agreed to build only two of the larger houses instead of the original three, as well as not building balconies that would allow the homeowners to view the yards of nearby houses. Special provisions would allow the subdivision to be built without requiring the land to be rezoned from agricultural.