JACKSON — A notice from the governor’s office to the Army Corps of Engineers indicates that an installation bigger than Nissan’s is being considered for western Hinds County.
The documents propose a 5.2-million-square-foot industrial building and operations center, and a new 1.8-mile railroad spur on a 640-acre tract between Clinton and Bolton, The Clarion-Ledger reported.
Nissan has a 4.2 million square-foot plant in Canton.
Plans also call for a 32-acre parking lot, nearly 53 acres of dry detention ponds and a 14.5-acre wet detention pond.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Bryant and Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Jeff Rent both said that if an economic development project is involved, they never comment before the public announcement. Bryant spokeswoman Nicole Webb says she is not familiar with the filing.
None of the people who said they knew something about the project would comment on the record, the newspaper reported.
The Corps must approve permits to fill wetlands. The Clean Water Act requires such permits for activities such as placement of fill material, levee and dike construction, mechanized land clearing, land leveling, most road construction and dam construction.
According to the filing, the tract includes nearly 120 acres of wetlands and about 3.5 linear miles of streams, with about 1 mile’s worth of streams holding water year-round.
Hinds County Economic Development Authority Executive director Blake Wallace said his agency is marketing the site but has not secured a prospect for it.
“We are analyzing it for a mega-site because Hinds County doesn’t have one of those,” he said.
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 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.