NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Board of Aldermen plans to ask the state Legislature next year to allow city funds to be allocated to help get more movies and TV shows filmed in Natchez.
Aldermen on Tuesday endorsed legislation to let the city’s economic development agency divert money to a new group – Film Natchez – that’s working to get more cinematic productions here. Film Natchez leaders include movie director Tate Taylor and producer John Norris, who this summer filmed Breaking News in Yuba County in Natchez.
Current state law dictates how local funds are used for Natchez Inc., the business-recruitment agency for the city and Adams County. A bill can be filed to allow Natchez Inc. to act as a conduit for city funds to be specifically used to attract more filmmakers to Natchez, said city attorney Bob Latham.
The Mississippi Legislature begins its annual session in January
Among other matter at Tuesday’s city board meeting, aldermen agreed to let the state’s environmental protection agency have more underground water tests done at city-owned property that once was a tire plant.
As Mayor Darryl Grennell and the Board of Aldermen try to rid themselves of the old Titan tire property on Kelly Avenue, the state Department of Environmental Quality continues to monitor the site for contamination
City leaders have been entangled in a legal dispute against Titan, the property’s former tenant that ended its lease of the long-dormant tire plant in 2017.
Few details about the lawsuit have been publicly brought up by city officials in the past couple of years as they discuss it in closed-door sessions. The city sued Titan for damages it allegedly caused to the property. Grennell and Latham have said they ultimately want the Illinois-based company to take ownership of the sprawling facility. The land and its deteriorating buildings are a financial and legal albatross for the city.
The lawsuit did find its way to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which earlier this year denied Titan’s appeal to halt trial-court proceedings in Adams County Circuit Court.
The old tire factory abuts Kelly and South Concord avenues and has been the source of pollution. Gasoline and cleaning solvents have seeped into groundwater. It’s been monitored by DEQ for several years.
The tire plant was constructed for Armstrong Rubber Co. in 1939 with state financing. The property was deeded to the city. The Natchez tire manufacturer once had more than 1,000 employees. After Armstrong left, the property was used by successor tire-making tenants Fidelity, Condere and Titan. Titan took over in 1998 but shuttered the factory in 2001. It continued to lease the vacant property from the city until 2017. Titan removed factory equipment that belongs to the city, which is a point of contention in the city’s legal dispute with Titan.
The 80-year-old tire plant is about a half-mile from Martin Luther King Street between MLK and D’Evereaux Drive in north Natchez.
Natchez and Adams County government leaders have discussed applying for a federal grant to pay for further assessing the extent of the pollution and how much clean-up costs would be. The federal government provides money to rehabilitate polluted industrial properties that could be redeveloped. The so-called Brownfields program enables states, communities and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, clean up and reuse polluted properties.