As many homeowners from neighborhoods surrounding the proposed Innovation District asked city officials for buffer protections from expected manufacturing parcels Tuesday, officials with the Golden Triangle Development LINK were already developing covenants to limit future noise pollution and unsightliness in the area near the Highway 182 and Highway 25 junction.
Aldermen eventually approved buffer areas to the northern and eastern portions of the park to help protect residents’ property values and quality of life.
More restrictive covenants are expected as Joey Deason, Oktibbeha County’s primary LINK representative, said his organization is drafting documents that will limit the types of potential industries that can locate to the park and will minimize visual and sound annoyances that stem from production.
Aldermen rezoned the site’s 326 acres Tuesday to M-1’s industrial designation. M-1 zoning allows for a range of industry, including light manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution.
But LINK officials have repeatedly said they want the Innovation District to separate itself from other regional industrial efforts — Lowndes County’s manufacturing sites and Clay County’s upcoming Yokohama Tire Corporation plan — to eliminate internal competition amongst the three counties the industrial development firm represents and Oktibbeha County’s proposed “shade and shelter” industrial site, Cornerstone Park, a few miles south of the Innovation District.
The new park, they say, will utilize the local tie-in with Mississippi State University and could become a regional player with high-tech industries and advanced manufacturing.
Deason said covenants, conditions and restrictions (CCR) agreements are in development now to help the LINK control the Innovation District’s growth while also ensuring all tenants and the LINK itself remain good stewards of property and respectful neighbors of homeowners in the area.
“You’ll see a lot of things in (the Innovation District’s CCR) as others, like provisions against junkyards, open piles of salvage and trash dumps, but we’re also going to focus on more (pollution-oriented industries), too, because we want to be good partners and we want the park to stand out,” he said. “Out there, you’re not going to see manufacturing that primary focuses on metal with blast furnaces, slaughterhouses or industries that focus on petroleum, drilling, concrete, or tar manufacturing. Our covenants could even cover down to dust, as in we wouldn’t want a mining operation out there, either.”
The 326 acres border a variety of parcels, including a residential neighborhood and undeveloped agricultural land to the north; an apartment complex and undeveloped agricultural land to the east; various residential and commercial properties south of Highway 182; and undeveloped agricultural and C-2 parcels to the west.
The parcels that comprise the Innovation District vary between open, rolling spaces and land filled with trees. The LINK’s covenants are also expected to help preserve the natural beauty of the space, Deason said.
City-imposed buffer zones also assure homeowners tree lines to break the line of sight between their properties and parcels once development and construction begins. The board also approved a 50-foot buffer on each side of a creek that runs through the property, and another portion of land designated in FEMA flood planning will also provide a natural barrier for neighborhoods to the location’s northeast.
Unlike Cornerstone Park, which is mostly covered with trees, the Innovation District’s topographical variety could help with top-tier industrial enticement, Deason said.
He previously asked the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority to spring for tree removal costs in Cornerstone.
“If you go to Cornerstone, you can’t see anything; you can’t visualize your plant there because you can’t see what the property is like,” Deason said. “If you tour the Innovation District, you’ll see wide open spaces with fields, then a bank of trees and then more open space. You can envision yourself there and imagine what your building would look like (amongst the variety of topography).”
Since both aldermen and Oktibbeha County supervisors pledged $5 million in bonds each to the Innovation District’s development, the project is expected to reach fruition early next year when the entities take the bonds to market.
Deason said he expects the LINK to finalize CCR agreements at least a month before the bonds are sold.
Officials are expected to ratchet up recruitment and enticement initiatives once infrastructure work within the park is complete.
“We’ve obviously made our economic development partners aware of what is going on in Starkville, but we still have a lot of due diligence to perform before we really get out there,” Deason said. “The first thing you can expect is a grand tour with (the Mississippi Development Authority and other economic development partners) to make sure everyone can see what we have firsthand.”
Starkville is expected to spread its debt service — about $400,000 annually — across 20 years, and a 2-mill property tax increase is expected to follow once bonds are issued in the coming months. A similar financing package is expected from the county.
The proposed industrial park is projected to provide about 1 million square feet of building space. About 1,300 or more jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues could follow depending on the LINK’s success with attracting business.
Increased success, however, could bring with it traffic issues along Miss. Highway 182 and its feeder routes, specifically Stark Road. The thoroughfare that connects Miss. Highway 182 and Miss. Highway 12 routinely experiences traffic problems.
Deason said traffic studies could follow in the future once industries take hold in the Innovation District.
The Dispatch was unable to obtain the LINK’s CCR agreements for industrial sites in Lowndes and Clay counties before press time.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.