The LeFleur East Business Improvement District is moving forward after winning approval during a special election.
Sixty-four percent of business owners in the boundaries of the business improvement district voted on Aug. 9 in favor of the district.
Clay Hays Jr., chair of the LeFleur East Foundation board of directors, said plans for the district would be discussed during the board meeting next month.
The business improvement district will be like those in Fondren and downtown Jackson where property owners pay a special assessment along with their property taxes to foot the bill for projects such as beautification and additional security.
Plans call for asking business property owners in the LeFleur East boundaries to pay an additional 7 cents per square foot of property along with their annual property taxes, Hayes said.
The assessment would generate a total of $200,000 a year, he said. Fifty-five percent of the funds would go to landscaping, 35 percent to public safety and the rest to marketing, administration and a special contingency fund.
The Hinds County Tax Collector would collect the funds and the foundation would be responsible for using them. Funds would not be available until January 2024.
The District at Eastover, Highland Village, Maywood Mart, Banner Hall and The Quarter as well as businesses along Lakeland Drive are in the district boundaries. The District at Eastover, Highland Village, Maywood Mart, Banner Hall and The Quarter are among shopping centers that fall within the boundaries.
LeFleur East boundaries extend from north of Hanging Moss Creek to south of Lakeland Drive and LeFleur’s Bluff Education and Tourism Complex and east to west from the Pearl River to I-55 North.
Founded in 2012, LeFleur East has cleaned and added new plantings at Exit 100 on Northside Drive and made improvements to the median along Lakeland Drive.
Ashby Foote, who represents Ward 1 and serves as president of the Jackson City Council, said a business improvement district would provide funds to make the area more attractive.
“I think it will give some extra tender loving care to the area,” he said, “and that will make it more attractive to shoppers who do business in the area. I think it’s going to be a big success.”
