Oktibbeha County supervisors unanimously approved a 61-page comprehensive plan Monday that will help guide future growth in the next 20 years.
The document, developed by the Oxford-based urban planning consultant Slaughter and Associates, only serves as a flexible guidepost in terms of land use and other planning goals and is not expected to bring to fruition strict rules, such as zoning ordinances.
Mike Slaughter, the firm’s chief planner, is expected to lead an implementation session with supervisors in early 2015, but such a meeting went unscheduled Monday.
“The last thing I want you to do is adopt this and let it sit on the shelf,” he said to the board.
Slaughter’s plan is ambitious when compared to the county’s current financial state. Certain suggestions, like continued support of the Oktibbeha County Heritage Museum and its library system, are expected, but supervisors consider major projects — the construction of an estimated $7 million jail/sheriff’s complex and a new health department; the paving of all county roads — as long-term initiatives hampered by funding abilities.
The comprehensive plan also calls for the construction of a new county emergency operations center and public storm shelter. Conceptual plans exist for a 20,000-square-foot facility near Rackley Oil Company’s location. Supervisors said this fall they should receive an update on FEMA grant which will be used to fund the project by the end of the year or in early 2015.
The building has an estimated $3 million price tag and should temporarily hold 4,000 residents at 5-square-feet per person during severe weather situations. If approved for the grant, the federal government would reimburse 90 percent of the price tag, leaving the county on the hook for about $300,000.
Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency Director Jim Britt also hinted this fall that E-911 facilities could be built next to the storm shelter as other construction grants are available. Enough room is at the site to facilitate such construction.
Slaughter’s calls for the county to develop building codes and adopt a sprinkler ordinance could come to fruition after a November deck collapse injured about 15 people in the Highlands Plantation.
Both board President Orlando Trainer and board Vice President John Montgomery said they were amiable to discussions on the matter last month. Trainer called the county’s lack of building codes worrisome in the light of future commercial housing growth in the outlying areas near Mississippi State University’s campus, and Montgomery said he would support new rules as long as they only applied to large-scale, commercial housing.
In the future, the board could address sprinkler requirements for similar developments since they, too, are not required in outlying Oktibbeha County.
Following the meeting, Slaughter said the county’s biggest needs for future growth are the adoption of building codes, subdivision rules and a zoning ordinance.
Slaughter’s plan was developed through various meetings with county supervisors and administrators, and through public hearings. The bill for his services was expected to be capped at $35,000-$40,000, but additional data-gathering exercises increased that total to $42,000 without out-of-pocket costs.
A final total was unavailable Monday, but Slaughter did say similar county efforts in Mississippi average about $40,000-$50,000.
Giving a subtle nod to the political minefield that is land-use restrictions, District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams attempted to remove the phrase from the board’s motion to approve the document Monday. His attempt died at the table without a second.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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