Batesville’s Planning Commission wants to establish a central location

By Jeremy Weldon

Batesville’s portion of the Highway 6 corridor often looks like a carnival and city aldermen should enact ordinances and take on beautification projects they were told by the Planning Commission at last week’s board meeting.

Speaking for the Planning Commission members, Code Enforcement administrator Pam Comer told the Mayor and Board of Aldermen they had not responded to letters sent in July and October last year asking the city to address concerns that group has about the appearance of the city, especially for visitors driving west into Batesville.

The commission asked last year, and again last week, to have city officials moving all temporary vendors to a central location, preferably to the Civic Center parking lot. Currently, vendors who wish to sell crawfish, produce, live fish, fresh seafood, and arts and crafts, pay a $100 fee and ask for a conditional use permit from the city.

This requires two hearings and an approval by the board. Most of the vendors who regularly set up their trailers and booths have been before the Planning Commission multiple times over the years.

Comer said if the city designates one area for temporary vendors the paperwork and need for hearings would be eliminated and possibly the $100 fee. Commission members spoke briefly, saying again the city has put too much effort to controlling the appearance of Highway 6 to have vendors set up in parking lots of other businesses.

Oxford, Senatobia, and other neighboring towns all have designated farmers markets of centralized places produce and other foods are sold.

Alderman Stan Harrison said he had talked with several vendors and all said they would not like to be moved to the Civic Center and operating in close proximity to their competitors. “I’m fine with finding a place where everybody will be together, but I’m just telling you what they’ve said when I brought it up.”

“Nobody likes change, Stan, but change has to start somewhere,” Comer said. “If  people want crawfish, or a Sno Cone, or arts and crafts and all the vendors are at the Civic Center, where do think they will go?”

Comer said with some organization the idea could be better for vendors and customers alike. “We’ve even talked about limiting the number of types of businesses that we allow, and maybe that’s something we can think about again, the number of crawfish vendors we have or whatever they are selling.”

Alderman Teddy Morrow said his conversations with the three main crawfish vendors were the same as Harrison reported, but agreed that a central location would be serve the public better and improve the appearance of the highway.

The Planning Commission pressed ahead with their other main concern – the interchange and cloverleaf area at the intersection of Highway 6 and Interstate 55.

Commission members said the efforts already taken by the city in past years are overshadowed by the poor condition of the cloverleaf where a few trees are standing in each of the four areas with no design or continuity.

The commission urged the alderman to contract with professional landscapers and planners to enact a plan that would provide for a more attractive look for drivers entering the city limits and ensure a long-term maintenance agenda was followed.

Alderman Bobby Walton, who works for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, reminded board members the city must ask permission from the state before making any changes, especially cutting any trees.

The cloverleaf is a problem each year for the city leaders because MDOT will only mow the area about four times a year leaving the city to contract for private mowing and bush hogging. Last year the city paid $1,800 at least three times to have the area cut. The board agreed to contact MDOT about the area and ask how much landscaping the city could provide.

Finally, the board heard more complaints about the appearance of MMC, the concrete company located on Highway 51 North, just before the overpass for Highway 35 North.

The back of the property front Highway 35 North and homeowners across the railroad tracks to the west have long complained about the appearance of the commercial operation. Comer said the city has asked the owners several times in past years to consider building a fence to conceal some of the piles of sand, gravel, and rock and the equipment used in the business.

Harrison and other board members said they, too, have received complaints. Comer said the business has been “kind of grandfathered in” because it has been in operation longer than many of the site and design codes have been enforced.

Comer said the city has no real power to force the business to build a fence or plant a privacy hedge. “Maybe a letter written over the mayor’s signature would help,” she said.

The board agreed to have its attorney write a letter in the “strongest of terms” to ask the owners for their consideration of the city’s appearance and cooperation in the matter.

Cutline:  The City of Batesville has been asked by the Planning Commission to consider moving all temporary vendors to a central location, preferably the Civic Center parking lot, to improve the appearance of Highway 6 inside the city limits. (Allen Brewer)