If District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams gets his wish, a planned Blackjack Road tax increment financing (TIF) package would fund a four-lane expansion for the congested thoroughfare.
Williams called for a four-lane project Monday and said traffic issues near Mississippi State University’s campus and expected residential development growth in the eastern portion of the county both require officials to re-think infrastructure improvements.
In July, supervisors unanimously approved a $4.78 million-maximum TIF plan that, once expected housing developments are added to the tax rolls, will provide funding for numerous Blackjack Road improvements.
The plan is contingent on three proposed apartment complex projects, which constitute a combined $100 million worth of investments, coming to fruition and adding about $593,000 to property values in the area. The established TIF district encompasses 11 parcels that comprise the development area, and the county is expected to spread bond payments across 15 years with a 4.5 percent interest rate.
Interest and principal payments are expected to cost the county less than $500,000 per year.
July’s action gives the board the authority to move forward with the TIF, but supervisors will not approve the bonds until the various projects have a measured impact on the tax rolls. The county’s tax assessor must first appraise the parcels’ new, post-development values.
With additional funds, supervisors will tend to various projects in the area, including road re-surfacing, widening and overlay efforts, and other general infrastructure improvements, like water, sewer and electricity.
Since the county intends to use the TIF bonds for public improvements, there is no need to reimburse developers.
Supervisors, working in conjunction with the Golden Triangle Development LINK, have not yet set in stone a formal plan for the road projects, but the working idea would widen a portion of Blackjack to a three-lane road, thereby reducing traffic congestion from the growing student apartment district to the university.
Crosswalks, bike paths and overhead lighting are all expected to increase pedestrian safety there in the future.
“We haven’t even started yet with all of the traffic we’re going to encounter in the very near future. You can’t even go through that area in certain times of the day. We have a real problem, and a three-lane road — one with a turning lane — is not going to be sufficient, especially at the round-a-bout,” Williams said. “I don’t think we should have a traffic jam in Starkville. As long as we’re trying to route that traffic through MSU’s campus coming from Blackjack, those apartments and Oktoc (Road), we will have a bottleneck situation.”
Williams asked County Engineer Clyde Pritchard to come up with plans for the potential four-lane expansion, but Pritchard said the county was not ready to begin designing without knowing key project tenants, like TIF funding amounts, traffic projections and how long supervisors want to make the road last without major maintenance projects.
Williams also suggested constructing a new road in the area to take stress off of Blackjack Road, but project cost and right-of-way issues — MSU and private residents are the chief landowners in that stretch — are likely to prevent new construction.
“What I envision is a phased project that does what we can with what we can afford, and then we make provisions for additional lanes and improvements for the future,” Pritchard told supervisors.
In the past, residents have criticized the county for Blackjack Road’s continued deterioration and traffic flow problems. As developers began bringing heavy equipment in, more and more residents voiced concerns over safety issues due to the increased traffic.
“If you four-lane it, where would you cut it off? It could happen, don’t get me wrong, but that’s a very big, multi-phased way to combat a problem. Sometimes your eyes can get bigger than your stomach,” said Board President Orlando Trainer.
Like Williams, Trainer represents the eastern half of the county, which includes Blackjack Road and its constituents.
“I think no matter three lanes or four, you’re still going to have traffic problems out there at some point, like with football games or morning and afternoon commutes,” Trainer added. “It’s just a situation where a lot of people are all trying to get to the same point, and there aren’t a lot of solutions for that, but growth is a good problem to have, especially when you talk about all the money that will be added to the rolls. Either we’ll figure it out and make it work, or we’ll make due with what we have.”
Supervisors previously estimated the expected apartment complexes will also provide the county school district — later, the consolidated Starkville-Oktibbeha system — an additional $718,000 per year.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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