NATCHEZ, Miss. – City aldermen on Tuesday endorsed Natchez real-estate developer Jimmy Smith’s remediation plans to revitalize the old Tracetown shopping center.
Smith is making use of a state program that helps developers defray the costs of cleaning up contaminated properties so they can be commercially viable. Tracetown’s buildings – which are largely vacant with few businesses – have asbestos-containing materials, according to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
While Smith met with the Natchez Board of Aldermen, no mention was made of what commercial venture he’s planning for the 3.5-acre site to be redeveloped.
“This is the first phase. We’ll be back with the second,” Smith told the board.
Published reports have a Hobby Lobby store to be located at Tracetown – with a land-use request approved last week by the Natchez Planning Commission – but Smith was quoted saying no deal has been finalized for that.
Regardless of what new is to be located at Tracetown, Alderman Sarah Carter Smith on Tuesday thanked the Natchez developer for his effort to improve the blighted shopping center that’s been an eyesore for years.
“This property sat for so long with an out-of-town owner, and he was approached many, many times to do something to help Natchez. A local person bought it and has now taken that action,” she said.
Tracetown has recently housed a few businesses, medical clinics and a U.S. Post Office branch, but its buildings are mostly empty.
Through a business incorporated as Tracetown Redevelopment, Jimmy Smith is applying for a financial incentive provided by the Mississippi Development Authority that encourages commercial ventures to clean up and reuse contaminated properties. The program calls for sales, income and other taxes paid by business entities operating on the redeveloped property to be rebated to the developer to defray remediation costs for these so-called Brownfield sites.
This would be the first such commercial redevelopment project in Natchez to take advantage of this state-provided incentive, said Trey Hess, the environmental engineer hired by city officials to manage the assessment of various Brownfield sites to clean up.
With federal funds Natchez has received in recent years, Hess has overseen environmental assessments of various Natchez Brownfield sites, such as Tracetown, the city-owned Fry building and old Armstrong tire plant.
The state Department of Environmental Quality’s staff has recommended the approval of Tracetown Redevelopment’s plans for the removal and disposal of the old shopping center’s asbestos so it can be revitalized as a retail center.
The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality is set to approve the plans when it meets Thursday.
“Sampling and inspection of the construction materials indicated the presence of Asbestos-Containing Materials. ACM at the site was determined to be in excess of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1 percent ACM threshold. Therefore, remediation of the Brownfield-agreement site is necessary,” according to the staff report submitted to the commission.
“Tracetown Redevelopment, LLC, has proposed abatement and disposal of the (asbestos) material in accordance with MDEQ approved methods. The proposed future land use of the site will be a retail center. The staff of the MDEQ has evaluated the Brownfield agreement and believes that, with the conditions and restrictions contained within the Brownfield agreement, the site will be in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and standards and will be protective of the public health and the environment.”
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