More study sought to decide extent of proposed annexation

By John Howell
Batesville city officials will ask their annexation consultant to provide census and economic data about areas north and south of Brewer Road to help them decide whether the residential/farmland should be included in its next annexation.
The mayor and aldermen, during their regular third Tuesday meeting November 21, had intended to make a final determination of what would been incorporated into city limits in the city’s next annexation of surrounding properties.
Initially targeted was the northeast quadrant of the I-55/Hwy. 35 intersection, including the David Bryan Justice Complex, the Panola County Airport and the Airport Industrial Park as well as narrow corridors along Highway 6/278 extending city limits east and west.
“I’d like to see Brewer Road to 6, north and south,” Alderman Stan Harrison said.
If implemented, Harrison’s suggestion would extend the city’s east boundary from Mills Cross Road to the Highway 6/Good Hope Road/Bethlehem Road intersection and north from Highway 6 to an as-yet undermined boundary north of and parallel to Brewer Road. Brewer Road from Mills Cross to the west already lies within city limits.
Panola County Board of Supervisors President Cole Flint, who came to the city hall while city officials were meeting in executive session during last Tuesday’s meeting, said that no one from the city had talked with him about the impact of annexing the county-owned jail and airport properties.
City officials agreed to ask Mike Slaughter of Slaughter and Associates, Urban Planning Consultants, of Oxford, to provide appropriate information at a future meeting.