STARKVILLE — Starkville could take another step toward breaking ground on a new industrial park as aldermen are expected to rezone about 326 acres of property near Highway 182 and Highway 25 for manufacturing usage.
Along with county supervisors, city aldermen gave their support for issuing a combined $10 million in bonds next year to build the Innovation District, a 300-plus acre industrial park that will locate near the northwestern interchange.
Starkville is expected to spread its debt service – about $400,000 annually – across 20 years, and a 2-mill property tax increase is expected to follow once bonds are issued in early 2015. A similar financing package is expected from the county.
Tuesday’s rezoning is a step toward fruition for the project since reclassifying the area for industrial use is mandatory before the Golden Triangle Development LINK can secure commitments from interested companies.
Specifically, the change would convert C-2 (general business), R-3 (multi-family residential properties, with allowances for single-family homes, duplexes and mobile home subdivisions and parks), R-5 (higher-density residential allotments) and R-E (low-density, non-subdivided residential properties) to M-1’s industrial zoning.
M-1 zones allow a range of industry, including light manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution. City zoning rules require M-1 parcels maintain minimum yard sizes and setbacks, have structures that are a maximum of 60 feet tall – exceptions are granted – and provide .75 parking spaces per worker, and one additional space per company vehicle. Open storage and certain facilities, per city rules, must be shielded from public view on roads.
City staff cites the Starkville’s and the county’s overall need for more manufacturing with the LINK-backed proposal, especially after the workers completed the U.S. Highway 25 expansion project in 2005.
The city’s planning and zoning commission previously approved the rezoning request with conditions that parcels adhere to all current requirements, including the landscape ordinance’s rules that order buffer yards and screening of industrial sites.
The 326 acres border a variety of parcels, including a residential neighborhood and undeveloped agricultural land to the north; an apartment complex and undeveloped agricultural land to the east; various residential and commercial properties south of Highway 182; and undeveloped agricultural land and C-2 parcels to the west.
Tuesday’s aldermen meeting will also feature a public hearing on the rezoning, which is expected to yield comments and complaints from those residents who do not want the neighboring properties’ usage changed for industry; however, documents state the city’s planning office has not received any phone calls from residents objecting to the changes.
The proposed industrial park is projected to provide about 1 million square feet of building space. About 1,300 or more jobs and hundreds of millions of tax dollars could follow depending on the LINK’s success with attracting business.
A call to LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins and various Starkville aldermen went unreturned Friday.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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