Lowndes County is one step closer to establishing the region’s fifth megasite.
Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority plans to exercise its option to purchase the property for the Cinco site by the end of the year, Golden Triangle Development LINK Chief Operating Officer Meryl Fisackerly told supervisors during a Monday meeting.
Supervisors approved a resolution to reauthorize up to $30 million in general obligation bonds to go toward purchasing and developing the site.
“That is a step in the right direction as far as getting that done,” Board President Trip Hairston told The Dispatch after the meeting.
“Moving one step closer to having the Cinco megasite done is one step closer to having more economic development here.”
A megasite is a large swath of land dedicated to industrial development for several companies to build and operate. The megasite program is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The Cinco megasite, planned for land north of Highway 82, will encompass almost 1,500 acres bounded by North Frontage Road to the south, Steger Road and Golden Horn Road to the east, Swoope Road to the north and the area across from Paccar and east of the catfish ponds to the west.
The Golden Triangle already has four megasites that are home to Steel Dynamics, Aluminum Dynamics and Paccar in Lowndes County and Yokohama Tire in Clay County.
Adding Cinco will only further solidify Lowndes County’s status as an “economic hot button” in the state, Hairston said.
“… When you look at other (areas) in the (Tennessee Valley) we’re the only one with five,” Hairston said.
The land consists of two parcels – one roughly 1,000 acres and the other roughly 450 acres – with one landowner. If all goes to plan, the property for the site will be purchased by March, Fisackerly said.
“We have an option on the megasite until the end of the calendar year,” she said, speaking on behalf of LCIDA. “We intend to exercise that option hopefully by mid-December and then with discussions closing around mid-March.”
State legislation passed earlier this year allows the county to issue bonds to build the megasite without counting against its debt limit.
State law caps the debt incurred by county governments to 15% of the county’s assessed value. The limit is intended to keep communities from taking on debt for public projects, like building schools or jails, that generate little to no revenue for the county.
But under the new law, the limit does not apply when a county is developing a megasite. In the long run, economic developments like the Cinco site pay back in larger dividends over time, like bringing new jobs to the region. In other words, “you have to spend a little to make a little,” Hairston said.
“In my opinion, it’s the right thing to do to not penalize a county for making steps in the economic development realm,” he said. “… When you build a school or a jail … it’s not a revenue generator. It may create a few jobs, but those are governmental jobs. These are private industries making private investments here in our community.”
The board will revisit the bond resolution on Dec. 31 to finalize reauthorization of the bonds under the new legislative terms.
LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said due diligence at the site – including environmental, cultural, soil and survey work – is complete. There are plans to install a water tank, a water treatment plant and a new sewer pump station. Rail layout is already underway and scoping work to bring power to the site is being finalized.
He said the LINK is currently working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation for road access to the site.
“We are already showing and marketing the site and prospects are impressed,” Higgins wrote in a text to The Dispatch. “Of the five megasites we have done, this is far and away our best.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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