Columbia wants to do environmental studies at two possible locations for a youth sportsplex.
The first is city-owned land along RA Johnson Drive, and the second is on the south end of the former Columbia Training School property.
Mayor Justin McKenzie approached the Marion County Board of Supervisors last week about that second spot, which is now part of the Marion County BusinessPlex.
“All we are doing at this point is asking if we could do an environment study on the land to see if it is feasible. We want to do it on RA Johnson Drive as well. If we have to spend money on environmental studies, why not do them together?” he said.
Board of Supervisors President Terry Broome said the board is willing to sit down and talk. He reiterated what McKenzie said in that nothing has been done yet other than an interest being expressed.
“We have to all sit down and discuss it, and they are wanting to come and possibly talk to us about it,” Broome said.
Columbia residents passed a referendum on May 6 by 76 percent to implement a 3 percent sales tax on restaurants and hotels in the city limits to be used to build a sportsplex, as well as other parks and tourism promotions. The tax is estimated to generate about $750,000 per year.
“We are ways away on starting anything right now; we haven’t started to collect the tourism tax money,” McKenzie said. “The tourism tax doesn’t even start until July 1.”
Drawings produced before the vote showed potential locations of baseball fields and other recreational facilities on the RA Johnson Drive property, although supporters of the project said then that those were only preliminary plans and the exact location had not been determined yet.
McKenzie said this week that the location of the sportsplex is not written in stone and that concerns on RA Johnson Drive include drainage, parking and room for expansion. He also said concerns have been expressed that Columbia High School is somehow tied in with the sportsplex project, but McKenzie said that’s not true.
On the businessplex property, Broome said County Attorney Drew Foxworth will have to take a look at the deed and how the legislation is regarding that land because it could be required to be used for industrial purposes only.
If that is the case, the matter would have to go back to the Mississippi Legislature to allow for the sportsplex to be built there if all parties agree.
The history of the property dates back more than a century. Marion County donated it to the state in 1917 to build a training school for needy and unruly youth, which closed in 2008. The state began deeding parts of the land back to the county beginning in 2011, and supervisors have been working to develop it into an industrial park.
Pictured Above: A possible location for a sportsplex include city-owned property on RA Johnson Drive.
