Oktibbeha supervisors could call for public hearings to be scheduled Monday for the county’s first set of site development guidelines and regulations.
Supervisors are expected to review a proposal developed by County Engineer Clyde Pritchard after wrestling with how to develop subdivision rules for more than a year.
If a majority of the board is satisfied by the proposal, public hearings would then be required before it becomes law.
Under the proposal, site development permits are required for new single-family dwellings, multi-family apartment complexes, commercial facilities, churches, schools and industrial developments, a copy of the draft states. The permit and the process its obtainment “is to ensure safe development while minimizing the potential for harmful impacts,” it states.
The permitting process would study, among other topics, a development’s safe and legal access points, flood plain consideration, availability of potable water, sewage disposal and storm water control.
Application reviews would be conducted by a representative of the board of supervisors, the county engineer, the county road manager or an independent engineer, it states.
Supervisors began the process to develop subdivision controls after massive apartment complexes were constructed in the Blackjack and Oktoc areas. Those developments, they say, led to traffic congestion and damaged roads.
The draft also sets minimum size thresholds for developments that require traffic impact studies.
Specifically, proposals for apartment complexes with more than 161 units or light industrial sites with more than 103,000 square feet of gross floor area would initiate such a study.
Other types of developments — from shopping centers and fast food restaurants to banks and drug stores — are also specifically listed in the study threshold minimums.
Supervisors previously paid $4,000 the Oxford-based planning firm Slaughter and Associates to develop a working subdivision ordinance, but the board ditched the 65-page proposal in favor of Pritchard writing a two — or three-page set of rules with fewer restrictions.
Slaughter’s proposal called for the county to found a planning and review board similar to controlling boards utilized in Starkville, but Pritchard’s does not.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer, who favored the Slaughter plan’s adoption, said Pritchard’s proposal would force supervisors to be more aware of planning and development issues in the county because of the lack of a development board.
“We’ll all have to really get involved in the process. If we don’t, what good is it to have regulations?” he said. “(Pritchard’s proposal) gives us a little something above what we have right now, which is nothing, in regard to controls out in the county. We just have to make sure we can police it and follow up on it.”
The board is also expected to meet behind closed doors with representatives of the Golden Triangle Development LINK and discuss three industrial park proposals.
LINK Chief Operating Officer Joey Deason said his organization’s report is strictly informational, and the economic development authority is not looking for supervisors to take action on a plan or issue a bond intent notice.
A similar meeting with Starkville aldermen is expected to follow in mid-May.
In March, the LINK identified three sites for future industrial development initiatives and investments, and asked county stakeholders to create a steering committee and pick a path forward.
The sites — land north of the Highway 82-Highway 25 juncture; 16th section land south of George M. Bryan Airport; and Cornerstone Park — represent what could be the home of a renewed LINK push to make the county more viable for economic development projects.
The Highway 82-Highway 25 area, dubbed the Strange, Stanley and Waldrop properties, carries an estimated $30 million price tag and represents the largest potential economic development site. Land acquisition and investments associated with the combined 16th section and Cornerstone projects is estimated at $6.23 million.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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