Hinds County plans to clean up around the building that once housed Virginia College on Ridgewood Road.
The site at 5841 Ridgewood Road turned into an eyesore after the school shut down, with squatters moving into the vacant building and some people using it as a dumping ground for unwanted items.
“It’s become a public health hazard and a safety issue,” said Robert Graham, who represents District 1 and serves as president of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors.
“All anybody has to do is go there and look around. There are old tires, nonworking hot water tanks and more behind the building.”
The county has received complaints about the unsightly location and is working with the city of Jackson on the cleanup, he said.
Virginia College closed all its locations in December 2018 after it lost its accreditation from the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools and faced financial distress due to declining student enrollment, poor student outcomes and greater regulatory restrictions on federal funding.
For several years, the Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association has battled illegal dump sites at Virginia College and an empty Walgreens store at Ridgewood Road and Ridgewood Court Drive and continues to do so.
“The Virginia College site had inoperable vehicles, litter everywhere, a makeshift home made of cardboard and clothes,” said Ken Wilson, president of the Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association, in 2023. “There were multiple articles of clothing laid across the fencing and spray paint on the building.”
The Ridgewood Park Neighborhood Association cleaned up both locations several times in the spring of 2021 and then turned to the city for help when disarray returned to the locations.
The supervisors plan to use $14,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funding to clean up Virginia College and Hanging Moss/Beasley Road.
Another project of the supervisors is paving in Jackson as funds are available.
The supervisors plan to have Petit Bois Drive, which is off Ridgewood Road in northeast Jackson, paved at a cost of $93,000.
The paving project should take “a couple of days,” but exactly when that will take place depends upon the weather, Graham said. A contractor will do the work, he said.
