County approves rezoning in Trail

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors considered two rezoning requests at the March 2 meeting.

The board approved rezoning of 1.5 acres for Best Choice Medical Clinic on Highway 72.

The primary care and urgent care clinic, owned by Karen and Ronald Bolden, will move in about four months to a new location because development in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park will cause them to lose their current location in about four months.

They have been in operation for just under four years at the original location at 6391 Highway 72, Byhalia. The new location is 6262 Highway 72, Byhalia. Coming from Corinth on Highway 72, Karen Bolden said the new location will be at Twin Hills Equipment Place and MidSouth Marine and located on the north side of Highway 72.

Ibraham Babukr and Cliff McLemore brought a rezoning request before the board of supervisors, as well.

The partners asked to rezone 18 acres located at Highway 302 and Lake Hill Road from residential estates to highway commercial. They propose to build apartment complexes at the back of the property.

Conditions specified in the permit include that no service stations will be located there.

Baburkr said the development will cost $90 million and will be apartments with 60 to 70 percent of the apartments single.

Board attorney Amanda Whaley Smith asked if there are any specific businesses included in the concept. Anything that is restricted will be included in the rezoning.

Zoning administrator David Johnson said if the rezoning request is granted, the county will not be able to control what goes in to the area.

District 5 Supervisor Ronnie O’Neil Bennett asked where sewer service will be provided.

“It’s already there,” said Johnny Walker, District 2 supervisor.

Johnson said R3 density requires water and sewer service be in place. He said there were no objections at the planning commission, but there was a concern about buffers.

The board approved the rezoning and to adopt the plan recommended by the planning commission with restrictions.

Lake Hill Development is a preliminary commercial and residential planned development of 27 acres created by Babukr.

The parcel is located on the corner of Mississippi Highway 302 and Lake Hill Road and is currently zoned as Residential Estates.

The new zoning would allow for 18 acres of Commercial-2 zoning consisting of retail, flex spaces and a hotel to complement the surrounding area. The zoning of nine acres of R3 will consist of 160 luxurious apartments to benefit the surrounding business for closer proximity of residents to work.

Industrial park business Marshall County Industrial Development Authority executive director Justin Hall reported on some projects in the Chickasaw Trail.

He said an interchange is to be constructed on Highway 72 to serve the Amplify battery plant. Final easements are being prepared by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. After the interchange is built, Marshall County will be responsible for maintenance, he said.

The Knox Road interchange is to be cut off where a health clinic is going in.

Hall asked for a motion, pending final approval by MDOT, to accept all state roads impinging on the state project including all from US 72 to Knox Road and to Coopwood Road.

The county will be responsible for tying in to Coopwood Road.

“When they impacted Knox Road, the alignment changed placing the interchange about a half mile from Knox Road to the interchange,” he said.

Hall said the county’s taking over the interchange will open up a lot of economic development opportunities. The road will be built to 80,000 pounds weight limits using State Aid requirements.

The 80,000 pound limit will allow for a better road that will hold up to heavy truck requirements.

“What about Amazon Road?” asked Walker.

Hall said the alignment of the road to provide immediate access to traffic coming off Norfolk Southern Way will pass by Corelle. A State Aid grant requires State Aid to be involved in every aspect, he said.

Chancery clerk’s report

Nicole Phelps presented items for approval. They included:

• a letter of resignation from Tish Summerlin Moore from the Marshall County Youth Court as part-time administrator.

• approval of travel for Cathy Hannah and three deputies at the 911 office to attend a workshop on building relationships.

• approval of travel for deputies Garrett Harris and Charles Wilson to attend training in Meridian. Harris was also approved to attend a leadership conference in April.

• approval of the claims docket of $562,540.

County administrator’s report

County Administrator Tim Powell presented a number of items including the purchase of a four-wheel drive for use by Maj. David Cook. A replacement for a 2015 Tahoe with 250,000 miles was recommended. The Major came in need of a four-wheel drive during the ice storm.

“David was very instrumental during the ice storm,” Powell said.

The board approved purchase of a 2026 Ford 150 crew cab four-wheel drive.

The board approved payment of $164,083 to Ste Bil Grading for construction work on Barringer Road North.

The board approved travel for Josh Hale and Adam Stone for travel to Jackson to request a communication tower and also to attend a regional fire prevention fire department international conference.

The board held a discussion with Spencer Stovall, with Looks Great Services, in charge of debris cleanup from the ice storm.

Stovall said he has six trucks in District 4 and 5 and will be running 10 trucks by the end of the month.

Bennett confronted Stovall saying he witnessed one of the debris pick up trucks cutting good trees on one road and leaving others that were hanging over the road.

“They are cherry picking. I watched it,” Bennett said.

“I’ll take care of that today,” Stovall said.

He said during the tornado in Slayden, Looks Good had a place to leave wood chips and didn’t advertise for tipping fees.

“I have got to get rid of wood chips, a pass through cost,” Stovall said.

The debris has to be ground into chips and then incorporated into soil. The tipping fee is $4 a yard after it is chipped.

The department of environmental quality requires a permitted site to incorporate the chips into the first six inches of topsoil. Stovall said about 800 cubic yards can be incorporated per acre.

Powell said a tipping fee was not a part of the contract with Looks Good.

“The bottom line, Looks Good is losing about $50,000 to carry the chips and has had no issues with other counties it is serving,” Stovall said.

At the March 16 meeting of the board of supervisors the board passed a motion to modify the agreement with Looks Great Services to haul the ground debris to the Quad landfill for $5.04 a cubic yard. The modified contract is only good for this ice storm event.