Starkville aldermen could pave the way for infrastructure improvements associated with a $21.9 million, mixed-use development along eastern Highway 12 during today’s city meeting.
Board members are expected to approve a $3 million tax increment financing (TIF) plan that will pay for roadway, water, sanitary sewer, signalization and other improvements near Old West Point and Pat Station roads as HPM Development LLC prepares almost 26 acres for a new car dealership complex, 20,000 square feet of office space, convenience store, restaurant and 15 single-family homes.
The city is also expected to enter into an interlocal agreement with the county, whose supervisors previously approved their end of the TIF plan.
Chris Gouras, a representative of HPM Development, first informed county officials of the project earlier this month. The focal point of the project — a Chevrolet, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge Ram dealership — would solve issues with economic leakage, as many consumers leave city limits to purchase or service automobiles.
The TIF plan, found within the city’s e-packet, estimates $234,402 in annual principal and interest payments on a 15-year note at about 5 percent interest.
The project, it states, could generate about $421,335 in annual sales tax rebates for the city.
Starkville would use half of the receipts for payments, while the city and county would both pledge increased ad valorem taxes on debt service.
The investment is forecast to bring in an additional $133,536 in school taxes, which cannot be waived.
Three phases of development, the TIF plan states, are expected to create $8.4 million in construction payroll alone. The first phase should create 70 full-time and 10 part-time jobs, while the second and third phases could produce 50-75 additional positions.
Annual sales from the businesses are expected to exceed $40 million, documents state.
The Greater Starkville Development Partnership Board of Directors previously approved resolutions urging both supervisors and aldermen to support the economic development proposal.
Changes to vehicle policy proposed
Ward 2 Alderman Lisa Wynn made good on her May promise to tackle the city’s policy on vehicle usage.
The board is expected to consider a new system of documenting city-owned vehicles and their operators Tuesday after Wynn alleged employees improperly used equipment at least twice in April.
Chief Administrative Officer Taylor Adams and Personnel Director Randy Boyd will present a report on the matter. Boyd said the policy will allow the city to improve usage tracking, but he deferred to Adams, who was unavailable for comment, for a differentiation between the current and proposed policies.
Documents included in the city’s e-packet show department heads have inventoried their respective departments’ vehicles and identified their primary operators in some cases.
Wynn called for stricter rules last month but pulled the proposed discussion after aldermen complained about the proposed motion’s language since it would have enacted an unwritten rule.
“Any time a city vehicle is being used … improperly and a report is made, it should not take us three hours to find out who is in possession of that car,” she said last month.
Moreland seeks landscaping waiver
The board could also allow Dan Moreland, of Moreland Real Estate LLC, to avoid landscape buffer requirements mandated by Starkville’s ordinances and previously rubber-stamped by both aldermen and planning and zoning commissioners.
Specifically, Moreland, who is developing ministorage units on old Highway 25, seeks relief from a condition requiring a 30-foot buffer between his property — the old Shriners building destroyed by a 2013 fire — and neighboring residential parcels.
No other information is provided within Tuesday’s e-packet for the agenda item, and a specific authorizing agent is not listed.
The Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously in December to allow the residential-to-commercial rezoning for a smaller parcel attached to the Shriners building’s C-2-designated land with conditions that Moreland erect the landscape buffer.
Aldermen approved the commission’s decision one month later.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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