LUY-Development

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  • Adams County lake dam a “high hazard” to break

    Adams County lake dam a “high hazard” to break

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – State dam regulators are requiring Adams County supervisors to come up with a plan to correct the hazardous Robins Lake dam they worry will break and flood nearby residents.
    Remediation options include rebuilding the dam or eliminating it along with the small lake it retains. Engineer Hayden Kaiser told the county board Thursday that the earthen structure is classified as a “high hazard” dam by the state Department of Environmental Quality.
    Whatever steps taken will be expensive with uncertainties who pays and where the money comes from.
    With the recent heavy rains, the dam has become more eroded and more imperiled to break. “It is a safety hazard, and there are people downstream,” Kaiser said.
    Robins Lake is located about 10 miles south of Natchez and west of U.S. 61 and Lower Woodville Road between the Cloverdale and Sibley areas. About 15 property owners are directly impacted by the deficient dam, according to Adams County officials.
    The privately built Robins Lake dam has a road on it that the county board took ownership of several years ago to maintain. That has raised questions about the county’s responsibility for the dam underneath the road.
    DEQ’s dam safety division is demanding the county have a plan in place for correcting Robins Lake dam in June or face sanctions by the state, said county board attorney Scott Slover.
    Adams County board President Ricky Gray said DEQ is being heavy-handed in imposing such mandates on the county. “I don’t think they have the authority to tell us we need to spend (millions of dollars),” he said.
    The least expensive alternative is to drain the small lake, remove the dam and replace it with road crossing, said Kaiser, who estimated the cost at about $1 million.
    The more expensive measure is to reconstruct the dam to ensure the impoundment can handle the lake water. Estimated cost: about $3 million.
    Adams County Supervisor Wes Middleton pointed to the many uncertainties and complications the board is grappling with to resolve the Robins Lake dam dilemma. “There are a lot of unknowns,” he said.
    With Robins Lake dam’s “high hazard” classification by DEQ, its “failure may cause loss of life, serious damage to homes, industrial or commercial buildings, important public utilities, main highways or railroads,” according to the state dam safety agency’s assessment.
    Adams County supervisors have expressed fears that a breach of the dam could gush water all the way to U.S. 61 a few miles away.
  • Plans underway for new psychiatric unit by old Natchez Community Hospital

    Plans underway for new psychiatric unit by old Natchez Community Hospital

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – Plans are underway for placing a psychiatric facility in the old doctors’ offices near the now-closed Natchez Community Hospital.
    Southwest Mississippi’s mental health agency is working to lease the Jeff Davis Boulevard building and convert it into an eight-patient crisis stabilization unit for treating mentally ill people, said Adams County board attorney Scott Slover.
    This has not been finalized, but Sheriff Travis Patten said the facility is much-needed and would be an alternative to having to jail people deranged or in psychiatric distress who have nowhere else to go.
    At a meeting Thursday of the county Board of Supervisors, Slover and Patten discussed plans being championed by Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health, a nonprofit, public service agency. It receives government and private funds to extend a variety of services for people with mental illnesses.
    A federal judge last year ruled that Mississippi provides inadequate community-based services for people with mental problems. This has resulted in many emotionally disturbed people to be warehoused in psychiatric hospitals or unnecessarily jailed due to lack of space elsewhere for them to be treated.
    Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health has been striving for months to bring a crisis stabilization unit to Natchez. It tried last year to get the city’s permission to convert the old Elks Club building on Lower Woodville Road into a CSU, but Natchez aldermen in October blocked that. Nearby residents objected to having a psychiatric unit near them. The site required a city rezoning change to allow such a facility.
    Slover said the Jeff Davis Boulevard property is already zoned for such a facility since it was a health-care complex. The hospital closed in 2015. The property is adjacent to a residential neighborhood.
    Real estate developer Jody Foster owns the property, Slover said, and is to lease the old doctors building to the mental heath agency. Converting it to an eight-bed psychiatric facility is contingent on receiving the necessary funds, Slover said.
    Slover represented Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health in asking the city last year to rezone the Lower Woodville Road property.
    Officially named A Clear Path of Southwest Mississippi Behavioral Health, the public-private agency relies on government grants, Medicaid and private dollars. The Adams County Board of Supervisors does annually give the agency about $77,000. Based in McComb, it provides nine Mississippi counties with various mental-health services ranging from stress counseling to drug rehabilitation. It has three facilities in Natchez.
  • Celebrity chefs involved in movie producers’ plans for Natchez restaurants opening soon

    Celebrity chefs involved in movie producers’ plans for Natchez restaurants opening soon

    NATCHEZ – Plans for new Natchez restaurants include a moviemaker and celebrity chefs reopening Smoot’s to serve gourmet bar food and reconfiguring the former Steampunk cafe as a full-fledged restaurant renamed The Little Easy Bistro.
    The Little Easy on High Street should open this month along with nearby Smoot’s Grocery, said
    chef Nick Wallace. He spoke about his plans last week at the annual Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration.
    Smoot’s —  a live music venue and bar on High and Broadway streets — had a sign on its doorway Tuesday saying to get ready in March for Wallace to reopen “a Natchez landmark” with movie director Tate Taylor and celebrity chef Cat Cora  It closed earlier this year after about four years in business under previous ownerships.
    Movie producer John Norris is also a partner in the new Natchez restaurant ventures with Taylor and the chefs.
    Wallace told literary festival-goers Saturday The Little Easy Bistro should be open in about two weeks. Steampunk Coffee Roasters moved last year to Franklin Street. Plans call for the former High Street espresso bar to be open seven days a week serving meals from morning to evening, Wallace said. The building is to be expanded.
    As indicated by Wallace, Smoot’s offerings will expand beyond the music and beverages it formerly served. Elaborate bar food and an oyster bar will be its featured appeal.
    Wallace’s resume includes winning a Food Network “Chopped” TV competition in 2017 and being an executive chef for the Marriott hotel chain.
    Cora also gained fame on TV since becoming the Food Network’s first female “Iron Chef” in 2005.  She’s also been inducted into The American Academy of Chefs Culinary Hall of Fame.
    Both Wallace and Cora are Mississippi natives, with Wallace being from rural Edwards and Cora from Jackson. Taylor also grew up in Jackson and now lives in the Church Hill community near Natchez. Movies he’s directed include “Get On Up,” “The Help” and the upcoming “Breaking News in Yuba County” filmed in Natchez and other Mississippi locations.
    Wallace is also involved in plans for making Natchez’ old Broadway Street railroad depot a restaurant. That development remains in the works with Taylor and Norris.
    Outside Natchez, Wallace has his hands in a new eatery to open soon near Taylor’s estate. Church Hill Variety is across the road from Christ Church, the rural 1857 Episcopal church. The restaurant-grocery store will feature the farm-to-table cuisine that Wallace emphasizes.
    The Little Easy Bistro’s name is derived from New Orleans’ moniker The Big Easy.
    Its plans do need to be approved by Natchez regulatory boards to ensure it adheres to architectural and land-use rules for the historic district it’s in. The Natchez Preservation Commission will review plans for the High Street building’s commercial addition March 11. The Natchez Planning Commission meets the following week March 19 to consider The Little Easy’s request to combine two property lots into one.
  • Natchez receives insurance money to repair old Margaret Martin school

    Natchez receives insurance money to repair old Margaret Martin school

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – The city received a $16,000 insurance payment to help repair the recently vandalized Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center in Natchez
    City Alderman Dan Dillard expressed hopes the necessary plumbing and electrical fixes are finished before the annual Natchez Festival of Music begins in May. The former school on Homochitto Street has been home of the music festival for 21 years.
    It was discovered last month that vandals or squatters wrecked the city-owned building’s interior and yanked out copper or brass plumbing fixtures. The total cost of repairs is about $21,000, said Jody Rutter, who manages the maintenance of city buildings. While insurance covers about $16,000 of that, the city has to come up with $5,000.
    For the long-term future, a campaign is being waged to get public and private funds to restore the historic Gothic Revival/Tudor-style structure built in 1927. An architect has estimated about $6 million is needed to refurbish the MMPAC.
    While the building has “good bones,” it has a variety of structural problems, said architect Belinda Stewart, who was hired by MMPAC supporters to assess it. The 93-year-old building has suffered water damage from years of leaks; has a sagging auditorium floor; requires modifications to make it more accessible for the disabled; needs a new roof and fire-sprinkler system.
    An alliance of government and private partners was formed last year to revitalize the building. The group – Friends of the Natchez Centre at Margaret Martin — hired Stewart to design plans for making it a “landmark center for arts and culture.”
    The state Legislature is being asked by the alliance to provide funds to restore the building, which is officially designated a Mississippi landmark by the state Department of Archives and History.
    Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and aldermen have also discussed selling the building. They met last month in a session closed to the public to review a prospective buyer’s interest in acquiring the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center.
    The Board of Aldermen has previously had prospective takers for the MMPAC, but those acquisitions fell through.
  • Natchez getting 63 new crime cameras with federal grant

    Natchez getting 63 new crime cameras with federal grant

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – A federal grant will enable the city to buy 63 more crime cameras to help Natchez law-enforcement officials catch and prosecute crooks.
    Police Chief Walter Armstrong said the $150,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice will pay for video cameras perched throughout the city to record criminal acts on the streets of Natchez to help investigators and prosecutors find those guilty. The city was awarded the money earlier this month. About $100,00 will be allocated this year and $50,000 in 2021, Armstrong said.
    The 63 cameras will augment more than 150 already installed throughout the city, he said. The cameras will enable the Natchez Police Department to have recorded video of crimes and their perpetrators. Video captured by the cameras will be cloud-stored for using when needed.
    Cameras are being strategically placed throughout the city outside residences and businesses as determined by the NPD in cooperation with property owners. Armstrong did say 19 of the newest ones will be installed in high-crime areas in north Natchez: Maryland Heights and Cambridge Heights, Holiday Apartments and West Stiers and North Union streets.
    He said Tuesday the new cameras could be installed in March. They’ll have varied technology that include capabilities to zoom in, pan around, record gunshots and read vehicle license plates.
    The NPD won’t use the cameras to monitor the streets of Natchez in real time. It costs too much to hire additional staffers to be posted at video screens to watch ongoing activities, Armstrong said.
    He noted the cooperation of private property owners is essential for the installation and operation of the cameras. Residential and business WiFi and electric connections are required for them to work.
    The Board of Aldermen began buying and maintaining the street-surveillance cameras with citizens after fears in 2018 escalated in Natchez about recent shootings, robberies and other crimes.
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    The Board of Aldermen has hired Eddie Burkes to be the full-time director of the Natchez Farmers Market.
    Burkes, who organized and ran the three-year-old event on a part-time basis, said the city needs  him full time to more aggressively promote the seasonal event and ensure its continued success.
    At Mayor Darryl Grennell’s request Tuesday, Natchez aldermen agreed to retain Burkes and pay him his requested salary: $10,500 for the next seven months. That equates to $18,000 a year.
    The downtown market, which began June 2017, has attracted people to downtown Natchez on Saturdays during four months each year in summer and autumn. While it began three years ago with much buzz and large attendances, numbers have declined since then, Burkes said. More work is needed to promote the event, he said.
    The Farmers Market is held each Saturday during the seasons to sell farm produce, baked goods, arts and crafts on the block of Commerce Street between Main and State streets. It has about 30 or so vendors each Saturday it’s held, Burkes said. Smaller “pop-up” markets are also held on a weekly basis throughout the year on Broadway Street.
    The Farmers Market has been an effective draw to bring more visitors to Natchez and more commerce for downtown businesses, Burkes said. “It’s for downtown Natchez and to bring people back downtown,” he told the board and mayor Tuesday. “It’s been a great success.”
    Grennell attributed that to Burkes. “Let’s not lose Eddie,” the mayor said in urging the board to contract him as full-time director and pay him his requested salary.
    Revenues are generated from fees charged to Farmers Market vendors and from sponsorships.
  • Natchez Citizens may be in charge of Crime Camera monthly fees in near Future

    Natchez Citizens may be in charge of Crime Camera monthly fees in near Future

    Citizens will be asked to help pay for maintaining the crime-surveillance video cameras being installed by the city to add to those already in place.

    The public cameras are posted on or by private properties with WiFi connections for the Natchez Police Department to monitor and respond to crimes in real time or for follow-up investigations.

    The Board of Aldermen last month decided to purchase $16,000 worth of outdoor cameras to augment about 150 already perched throughout the city. The board on Tuesday agreed to get residents and businesses housing the cameras to pay for storing the video images for future use by police investigators. The cloud storage costs amount to $20 a month per camera, said Natchez Police Chief Walter Armstrong. For 32 cameras, he noted, this would amount to about $7,700 a year.

    The city will pay for buying and installing the new cameras. Armstrong has said a video camera can range from about $150 to $350 to buy. He noted their placement will take time as he decides where to locate them. Internet and electric connections are required for the monitoring system.

    Armstrong said he wants the cooperation and input of residents and businesses whose properties the cameras could be on. He has scheduled a Feb. 19 meeting to discuss this with downtown propertyowners.

    Mayor Darryl Grennell said he wants the crime-fighting cameras “strategically placed in this entire city.”

    The Board of Aldermen on Tuesday did approve getting WiFi connections for the city-owned, recently vandalized Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center to enable it to have surveillance cameras. Vandals or squatters recently wrecked its interior and yanked out copper or brass plumbing fixtures. The former school on Homochitto Street has been home of the Natchez Festival of Music for 21 years.

    Efforts are underway to repair the vandal-caused damage for the short term. For the long-term future, a campaign is being waged to get public and private funds to restore the historic Gothic Revival/Tudor-style structure built in 1927.

     

  • Natchez gets new state infrastructure money

    NATCHEZ, Miss. — The city recently received about $73,000 from the state as the first of eight payments to improve streets, bridges and other public structures in coming years.
    The money is from a program enacted by the state Legislature in 2018 to share internet sales tax revenues with Mississippi cities and counties. The new tax is imposed on online shopping.
    Natchez received its first check last month from the Mississippi Infrastructure Modernization Act. The city will get another payment in July – bringing a total this year of about $146,000, said city Community Development Director James Johnston.
    Six more payments of increasing amounts are forthcoming through 2023, he said.
    Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell noted Tuesday that the Board of Aldermen can use the money for improving city streets. Aldermen have a preliminary list of needy streets to review and finalize for funding later this year. In recent years, the board has resurfaced Natchez streets using money it gets from leasing city-owned land to Magnolia Bluffs Casino on the Mississippi River.
    The state Infrastructure Modernization Act money can be spent to repair or maintain existing roads, streets, bridges and water-sewage structures, according to a report presented to the aldermen Tuesday. The money can’t be used for building new structures.
    The state revenues are from the new sales tax the Legislature in 2018 imposed on internet-based businesses such as Amazon and their customers. The Infrastructure Modernization Act also allocates money from Mississippi’s new state lottery that began in 2019.
  • U.S. congressman visits Adams County

    U.S. congressman visits Adams County

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – U.S. Rep. Michael Guest visited the Adams County Board of Supervisor and stressed Monday how he’s trying to bring more industries and jobs to the area.

    He pointed to one anonymous  industrial prospect – code-named the “Apollo” group – as an “exciting opportunity” for possibly creating new jobs at the now-closed International Paper plant site. Guest said he’s met with “Apollo” representatives “zeroing in on Adams County” to bring their industry here.

    Guest also said he’s helping to ensure the privately owned Adams County Correctional Center continues to operate employing about 400 people. The 2,232-bed prison holds immigrants who unlawfully enter the country and are detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). The Republican congressman said he’s working to “make sure we can help keep those beds full.”

    For the Mississippi River, Guest said federal funds could be allocated for dredging the waterway to make it deeper and allow more commercial traffic for the Natchez region, making it especially attractive for businesses.

    Adams County board President Ricky Gray said Monday he didn’t recall a U.S. congressman ever attending a board meeting during his 20 years in office — first as a Natchez alderman and then a county supervisor. “You’re making us feel special,” he told Guest.

    While he was visiting Natchez-Adams County on Monday, Guest noted he was flying back to Washington early this morning to be at the U.S. Capitol for President Trump’s State of the Union address tonight.

  • Adams County pressed to update property tax values, deal with faulty dam

    Adams County pressed to update property tax values, deal with faulty dam

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County officials are under pressure in a short period to get property tax rolls updated to ensure taxpayers are paying the right amount next year.

    County supervisors were told Monday that the tax assessor’s office is behind in reviewing private properties to update and confirm their worth for taxable purposes.

    “You’ve got a lot of work to do to get the values right,” said Wayne Herring, a professional tax appraiser hired by the Board of Supervisors to help.

    Adams County Tax Assessor Larry Hughes is new on the job having just taken office in January. He replaced Reynolds Atkins, who did not seek re-election last year. Staff work in recent months was left undone in updating tax records in Atkins’ office between last summer’s election and now, said Peter Dale, who now manages the county’s mapping of land parcels to be taxed. He noted how crucial the next six months are for county appraisers to update land values on time for assessments to be made for 2020 property taxes due for payment next year.

    The state does require periodic reassessments of private properties to determine the updated values of their land and structures to be taxed based on their worth. Assessments are due at the end of July for the Board of Supervisors to finalize. If past due, Adams County could be penalized by the state by not being reimbursed for homestead-exemption tax breaks it provides to propertyowners, Herring said.

    Adams County has had about 17,000 privately owned parcels of land the tax assessor must value for tax purposes, according to stats provided to county supervisors in the past.

     

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    A hazardous private dam with a county-owned road on it should be torn down and replaced by a bridge, according to recommendations presented Monday to the Adams County Board of Supervisors.

    County engineer Jim Marlow said state dam-safety regulators suggest the erosion-prone, deficient Robins Lake dam should be taken out rather than rebuilt and enlarged to handle the lake when it rises after heavy rains. A bridge could replace the road that traverses the earthen dam.

    However, this would eradicate the small private Robins Lake surrounded by a handful of residences south of Natchez.

    If nothing is done to address the vulnerable lake-impoundment structure, the state Department of Environmental Quality’s dam-safety office could mandate the road-topped dam be closed, Marlow said.

    Adams County supervisors discussed the dilemma facing them as they grapple on what’s the most feasible and safest option for lakeside residents and others in the area who rely on the public road traversing the small levee-dam. It’s located west of U.S. 61 and Lower Woodville Road about 10 miles south of Natchez between the Beau Pre and Sibley areas.

    Robins Lake Dam Road gets washed out often after heavy rains — the most recent being last month’s downpours that damaged the earth levee along the lake. While the road is maintained by the county, the dam underneath is privately owned.

    The county can’t pay for rebuilding the levee-dam to handle the lake’s high levels, and it would be nearby residents’ responsibility if they want to maintain the lake as currently impounded.

    The Adams County board could decide to abandon the road, freeing it of the responsibility of maintaining it. However, residents nearby losing a key transportation link could sue the county, said board attorney Scott Slover.

  • Natchez aldermen discuss prospect for selling old Martin school building

    Natchez aldermen discuss prospect for selling old Martin school building

    NATCHEZ, Miss. – A prospective buyer is interested in acquiring the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, the former Natchez school owned by the city.
    Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and aldermen discussed this Tuesday in a session closed to the public, said City Attorney Bob Latham. He declined to publicly identify the potential buyer. State law allows government boards to keep prospective buyers of public properties a secret until the transaction is finalized.
    The city has been struggling for years to maintain and rehabilitate the 93-year-old landmark structure, which for 21 years has been the home of the Natchez Festival of Music. A public-private campaign is underway to raise funds for Margaret Martin’s refurbishment.
    This comes nearly a year after the state Legislature rescinded $6 million the House and Senate had previously earmarked in 2019 for the aging structure’s renovations
    The Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center – named after the school’s former principal –  is a state-designated historic landmark built in 1927 as Natchez High School. After the Natchez-Adams School District closed what later became Margaret Martin Junior High School, the music festival moved into the Gothic Revival/Tudor-style building in 1999. The city, festival organization and state Department of Archives and History have spent funds over the years to maintain and repair the building. However, millions more in renovation funds are needed.
    To add to the building’s structural woes, vandals or squatters recently wreaked its interior.
    An alliance of government and private partners was formed last year to revitalize the building. The group – Friends of the Natchez Centre at Margaret Martin — hired architect Belinda Stewart to design plans for making what’s being called a “landmark center for arts and culture.” Stewart’s plans are scheduled to be publicly presented Thursday 7 p.m. at the Natchez Grand Hotel.
    The Natchez Board of Aldermen has previously had prospective takers for the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, but those acquisitions fell through.
    The MMPAC is located next to Dunleith, the antebellum Natchez bed-and-breakfast mansion, restaurant and event venue that was purchased in November by the J Collection, a New Orleans-based hotel group that plans to reopen the popular tourist destination. Dunleith closed a year ago after its previous owner went bankrupt.