LAMAR COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) – Last week, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced $110 million worth of investments in site development projects across the state, including some in the Pine Belt.
“We’re being awarded a $50,000 grant for site development,” Lamar County Administrator Jody Waits said. “Along with that, there is a match to that grant of $25,000 from the county, and then we’re receiving another $25,000 grant from Cooperative Energy,”
Lamar County Industrial Park is one of dozens of sites in Mississippi that the Governor’s Office is investing in.
“There may be greenfield sites that don’t have a large building like this, but we’re putting the infrastructure in, the water, the sewer, the roads,” Reeves said. “So, what we’re seeing is a true investment by the state of Mississippi in terms of building an economy.”
The industrial park has been identified as one of three ‘ready sites’ in the state.
The governor’s office says the Ready Site program is for properties that have “a minimum of 20, highly-developable acres that are site-work-ready within six months or can have utilities on site within 12 months.”
Lamar County leaders said they have a plan for the plot of land that fits this criteria.
“What we intend to do with that money, we have a 52-acre site within the industrial park that we need to do some geotechnical work there, and then we need to do an ALTA survey,” Waits said. “We need to do some grubbing and clearing, taking down some trees. And so that’s how we’ll use the money in order to get the site ready,” Waits said.
Once the work is done, the county hopes to attract even more business to the mostly-full industrial park.
“Within that industrial park, primarily it is light manufacturing and distribution centers, and so, we think it would be ideally situated to attract something similar to that, another larger distribution center or light manufacturing or industrial,” said Waits.
Over the years of development, Lamar County has learned that the benefits of this investment will outweigh the costs.
“It’s the county’s way of bringing jobs to the county and increasing our tax base by bringing additional ad valorem in the value of the businesses,” said Waits.
Reeves said the investments offered a peek into Mississippi’s future..
“What the $100 million that we announced represents is future economic growth for the state of Mississippi and it’s exciting times to be in Mississippi,” he said.
In the Pine Belt, Jasper County, Jones County, Forrest County/Lamar County Eagle One Mega Site and Pearl River Community College were among those also scheduled to receive funding from the state.
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