VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi’s Secretary of State’s Office has transferred ownership of a shuttered, large-scale rubber recycling property to the city of Vicksburg for future development.
The state turned over the 12.6-acre (5-hectare) property once home to U.S. Rubber Reclaiming Inc. to Vicksburg last week, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann’s Office announced on Tuesday. Mississippi code allows the state to transfer tax-forfeited land to local governments, The Vicksburg Post reported.
It’s unclear how the site will be used, but Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said it adds to the list of properties the city has as an asset for economic development.
The main building on the property was destroyed by a fire in 2006, the newspaper said. The land was later purchased by a local developer then sold for back taxes. The state of Mississippi acquired it after it went unclaimed during a county tax sale.
There’s a significant amount of accumulated rubber on the property that will need to be cleaned up in part by the Department of Environmental Quality, Hosemann said. An upcoming assessment will determine what hazards remain on the property.
