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Planning committee backs third amendment to Fair Park urban renewal plan adding 17 acres
Summary
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the city’s third amended and restated urban renewal plan, expanding the Fair Park urban renewal district by about 17 acres formerly occupied by warehouses; the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency will continue to manage redevelopment and land sales under the amended plan.
The Tupelo Planning Committee unanimously recommended approval of a third amendment and restatement of the Fair Park urban renewal plan to add a roughly 17-acre tract off South Spring Street extending to Elizabeth Street.
Debbie Brangenberg, project director for the Tupelo Redevelopment Agency (TRA), presented the amendment and a timeline tracing Fair Park’s planning and phased development dating to the 1990s. She said the newly proposed tract—formerly the Federal Compress property—became available through a property trade and is contiguous to previously developed phases. Brangenberg described the area as suitable for mixed-use redevelopment with commercial, upper-floor residential and some townhome- or small-scale multifamily-style buildings that would connect to the Mill Village and downtown via a planned underpass and greenway trail.
Brangenberg and city staff stressed that the committee’s action is a plan-level determination and not site-specific approval; buffers, lighting, sidewalks, platting and infrastructure will be decided through subsequent preliminary-plat and plan-review actions. Brangenberg also said the agency does not currently plan to issue new urban renewal bonds for this amendment and asked that exhibit B in the resolution be updated to remove language implying immediate bonded indebtedness. The committee’s motion included the amended exhibit B and a paragraph revising the financing language.
City Attorney Ben Logan and staff reviewed legal and statutory considerations. Logan said the development pattern and road improvements since the code’s 2013 adoption represent a change in circumstances that supports the amendment. Committee members asked about connectivity to existing greenway and sidewalks; staff said preliminary plat and infrastructure plans will return to the committee and that the greenway route is planned to run through the property with underpass connections under the railroad.
The planning committee’s recommendation asks council to find the amended plan conforms with the comprehensive plan and recommended approval of the third amended and restated urban renewal plan, with the updated exhibit B removing language that would imply immediate bond financing. The motion passed unanimously; staff said city council will hold the public hearing and act on the ordinance after required public notices and the administrative process.
