Ground-breaking for Communiversity — East Mississippi Community College’s $38 million workforce training center — is months away. Even so, the center is already moving.
Greater Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins, EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner and project architect Chris Morrow on Monday asked Lowndes County supervisors for a 25-acre county-owned plot west of PACCAR on which to build the EMCC Communiversity.
The original location was a 12-acre site owned by EMCC northwest of PACCAR.
“Four to six weeks ago, the decision was made to ask the county for land on part of the 100 acres the county owns just west of PACCAR,” Higgins told the board. “It’s a good spot, a better spot, and today we are asking if you will approve providing the land for this project.”
Huebner said the new site would provide more parking, room for growth and raise the facilities visibility.
“One of the things I like best is that you can see it from Highway 82,” Huebner said. “It’s just a great location.”
The proposed site fronts Old Highway 82, just west of PACCAR and south of Charleigh Ford Road.
Morrow said the extra acreage will allow the project to better meet both the immediate and future needs of the students.
“The initial site only had room for 330 parking spaces,” Morrow said. “If you agree to this, we can build 400 parkings spaces on the new site and have room for 260 more spaces for two additional phases, if there is a need to expand.”
Board President Harry Sanders asked if the new plans would increase the cost of the project.
“I don’t see there being any extra cost,” Morrow said. “We would save some money from road construction because the original site required a long stretch of paved road. If there is any new expense, we could use money we saved from that.”
Morrow said the project plan will not change and the switch in sites should not mean a delay in construction.
The Communiversity — a workforce training center — is being funded by a combination of local, state and federal funds.
Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties have provided $13.5 million while a federal Appalachian Regional Grant provided $6.1 million and the state legislature provided $18 million.
The supervisors unanimously approved giving the land to EMCC for the project.
In other business
County Administrator Ralph Billingsley notified supervisors of four positions on three boards that will be open as of Jan. 1.
All are four-year appointments and include two positions on the Golden Triangle Solid Waste Board along with single positions on Main Street Columbus and the Prairie Opportunity Board. Those positions are now open for applications.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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