Starkville aldermen have voted to narrow down the city’s annexation study to one area east of the city for further consideration.
After a lengthy, and at times contentious, discussion, consultant Mike Slaughter with urban planning firm Slaughter and Associates has been tasked with providing aldermen with demographic and financial information about the new study area. The new area extends east along the Highway 12 and Highway 182 corridor to Highway 82 and south along the east side of Mississippi State University to Blackjack Road.
The decision came on a 4-2 vote with Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 3 Alderman David Little, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker and Ward 5 Alderman Patrick Miller in favor. Ward 1’s Ben Carver and Ward 6’s Roy A. Perkins opposed the measure. Ward 7 Aldermen Henry Vaughn, who expressed opposition to the annexation, had left the meeting by the time of the vote.
Slaughter will bring aldermen information about that area as a whole and about the subsection that just includes the highway corridors.
Much of Tuesday’s discussion focused on potential annexation through the lens of the 1998 annexation and the city’s failure to provide adequate city services to the areas it brought in, most of which were to the north and west.
Perkins has opposed new annexation since the city began its study roughly a year ago because of ongoing issues from 1998.
“The city has a poor past performance,” Perkins said. “The 1998 annexation is still not complete. There are residents in Ward 6 that still have not received the services.”
Mayor Lynn Spruill, who has advocated for new annexation, acknowledged the 1998 annexation was an overreach, as past city leaders expected development — that has not occurred — to spring up along the Highway 82 bypass in north Starkville.
“I don’t think this board should be hamstrung by the 1998 board that clearly, I think, made more than they should have out of the bypass because it did not develop as they had anticipated it would,” Spruill said.
With Tuesday’s vote, Spruill said she will contact Slaughter to determine when he can bring information about the revised study area to the board. She said he might be able to return in time for the first meeting in November.
Spruill said she is thankful the board decided to move ahead with a more focused study area.
Carver: ‘We have 100 years-worth of developable land’
Discussions nearly hit a snag before Slaughter, who attended Tuesday’s meeting to help parse out a study area, could speak to the board when Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver introduced a motion to stop discussion of the annexation until after the 2020 census.
Carver said about 95 percent of the feedback he’s gotten about the annexation has been negative. He also said Starkville has 100 years-worth of developable land and should focus on infilling, rather than taking in more land.
He further expressed concern about staffing issues with the police department and fire department needed additional hires if the annexation moved ahead.
“I’d be fine revisiting this in 2021 or 2022 if I’m still up here,” Carver said. “I just think the timing is off. I don’t understand why here, or why tonight.”
Carver also said he had been in favor of the annexation when bringing MSU into the city’s limits was still an option. However, when the university declined to be a part of the annexation, he said, that presented a “big red flag.”
Carver’s motion failed 4-3, with Sistrunk, Little, Walker and Miller voting against it. Perkins and Vaughn voted with Carver.
Miller, Walker, Little and Sistrunk all expressed some interest in moving forward with a smaller study area.
Walker said Starkville’s growth has pushed east, driven by MSU. He said it’s prudent for the city to at least consider the area to the east.
“Yes, we have land to develop over the next 100 years, but it ain’t coming,” Walker said. “It’s not going to come for lots various environmental and other issues. To the east, we have more options.”
Little, who said he was “disappointed” in the attempt to stop the discussion, said he believes the city needs to look east. He said places like the Ford dealership just beyond city limits on Highway 182 are vital considerations, as they generate sales taxes that, at the moment, just go to the state of Mississippi with no local impact.
He added that increased population could be particularly important for Starkville as the state phases in a diversion of internet sales tax revenue to cities for infrastructure, the amount of which is based on population.
“I think it’s not showing much vision if you can’t at least see the 182 corridor and 12 connection to get those businesses and it’s not going to cost us a nickel,” Little said.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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