City misses deadline for investors

An attempt to meet a deadline for a California investor to buy property at the Holly Springs Commons PUD was missed due to inability to get action on time by the City of Holly Springs.

Holly Springs realtor Greg Gresham and engineer Ben Smith explained the urgency of getting approval from the city at the Aug. 20 meeting of the board of aldermen.

Gresham represented the investor.

“This is pertaining to the PUD at the Holly Springs Commons,” Gresham said. “We have a developer that is interested in buying several lots out there.

He said the acreage of interest was zoned for multi-family use in 2006 back when Dr. Kenneth Williams was trying to get a hospital built in the Commons area.

Gresham said his buyer wants to purchase 147 acres in the mixed use development that is zoned for PUD to commercial, to single family, multifamily, residential use and medical use and office and business use.

The proposal was presented to the planning commission June 18 for approval.

The areas of interest to the buyer includes a residential development area running north of Williams Clinic up to Peyton Road and a portion of a property that runs across the street from Williams Clinic and lies between Crescent Meadow Drive and I-22. A billboard request was added to the project, subject to Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) approval. An area for a transient RV facility was approved by the Planning Commission.

Mayor Sharon Gipson said an engineer with Elliott and Britt recommended the City not approve the project until there is more time to look at the investor’s request.

The city also wants more time to look into the opportunity to get grant funding that is tied to the medical facilities, Gipson said.

“So we are not comfortable with it. It needs to go back to the planning board. So, they pointed out to me earlier and said to not vote on anything,” Gipson said.

It was Ward 3 alderman Colter Teel who asked to put Gresham on the agenda. Gresham said he has been

in discussions with the Planning Commission since May.

“We’re not asking for anything to be changed on what is currently shown as the medical district or anything that would affect the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) bond,” Gresham said. “We have a developer that is using 1031 money, that, if we don’t close on the project by Monday (Aug. 26), they will have to pay the state of California over half a million dollars in taxes, which is money he would like to use to buy this property and do this development.”

He said the project would be a multi-million dollar development which would include what was presented to the planning board. He said Commissioner Lisa McCarter had made a motion to approve the development and the Planning Commission passed the motion.

“If we can’t close by Monday, which is the deadline, then this likely goes away,” Gresham said. “So, it’s a question of do we want the growth, the benefit to the citizens, and to increase the tax base of Holly Springs?”

Gresham said people are already contacted him about building on one of the lots closer to the medical center to put in a 6,000-square-foot building for a family-type restaurant.

“We have a time constraint, and you know this has been going on since May and we presented the proposal June 18,” he said.

Gipson and Gresham began speaking over each other.

Attorney John Keith Perry Jr. asked the two to speak one at a time.

“It could be the greatest thing since New York, and in terms of, if we not do it properly, then we open ourselves up to other issues,” Gipson said. “We don’t want to just put something up. We want something that our residents can use that’s going to be valuable, that will enhance our city. I’m excited someone is interested in this area, but at the same time we have to follow our own rules.

Perry recommended taking the discussion into executive session.

Gresham asked if Ben Smith could speak.

Smith said the only thing that had been changed in the original Planning Commission request was a note that was added saying billboards were subject to MDOT approval. He said there were no other changes beyond what the planning commission approved.

“So, saying there have been changes made since the Planning Commission approval is not true,” Smith said.

Teel expressed frustration at the slow process by zoning approval.

He said Gresham had contacted him in May.

“If we want things to come here, you’ve got to find the process that is quicker than three or four months because anybody that’s come in here, if you tell them approval looks like about half a year, they’re not going to come here.

“I’m not blaming anybody for that. I know the work load tends to be on everybody here, but if a developer can start a project in May and not get approval before September, we’ve got a problem.”

Teel said he has kept in touch with the project and knows it took too long to get a response back from zoning to Gresham.

“There needs to be a change, if there needs to be anything else,” Teel said, “which has been par for the course for a lot of things. I’ve been deep enough in it. I’ll make a motion to approve the decision made by the Holly Springs Planning Commission to change the PUD of Holly Springs Commons and to approve the billboards.”

Alderman-at-large Dexter Shipp seconded.

Ward 4 alderman Patricia Merriweather said she wants to see the minutes of the planning commission meeting first.

Gresham said he can’t see how engineer McLeod objected when they (Elliott and Britt) were the ones who did the PUD in the first place.

He said the proposed multi-million dollar project was approved by the Planning Commission “and then we got to city zoning office and they say, no, you can’t do that.”

Ward 2 alderman Andre Jones said he realizes Gresham has been trying to get on the agenda.

“We couldn’t get a meeting,” Gresham said.

He said Zoning kept referring to Multi-family and Duplexes. He said that was an addendum to the original zoning back when the PUD was put in place 18 years ago, not part of his package.

Gipson called for a vote on Teel’s motion.

Jones said he felt he didn’t have enough information.

Gresham said the original zoning where the developer wants to put a storage complex and R.V. Facility is already zoned commercial. He asked for the zoning up to Peyton Road to be changed from commercial to residential. And the planning commission approved that, he said.

Jones said the matter shouldn’t have to “get to this meeting and we’re four days out. We should have had a decision coming from the zoning committee in regards to what’s happening, this gentleman’s trying to do XYZ. If he’s denied to get on the agenda, the discussion should have been in one of the departments.”

“A person can’t just come and say they want on the agenda,” Gipson said. “It has to come through zoning. Then it goes through the project engineers. So, we gave them the process. It may not have moved as quickly as you thought, but it went through the process.”

Fountain said she didn’t know anything about the matter and she can’t vote.

At roll call Teel was the only alderman who voted yeah on his motion.