Opponents of a proposed convenience store and any other commercial development at Lake Caroline in Madison County have distributed fliers and plan to put up banners about a Feb. 19 meeting that will give residents an opportunity to learn more.
“I fully expect a standing-room only crowd,” said Judith M. Fouladi, a Lake Caroline resident opposed to the proposed Stribling Market, a convenience store and eight gas pumps.
Members of Neighbors United for Responsible Planning & Zoning have mobilized to get the word out about the meeting. They have been in place at 6:45 a.m. on weekdays to hand out fliers about the meeting to drivers on their way to work and have posted reminders about the meeting on social media, she said.
“The feedback we’ve been receiving is that the vast majority are familiar with the issue and have been following it,” Fouladi said. “The meeting will be the first time something like a town hall meeting has been planned for Lake Caroline and other subdivisions nearby to learn about it. We want people to fully understand so they can be fully engaged.”
The lawyer hired to keep the proposed convenience store and any other commercial development from being built plus two Madison County supervisors, a constable and a former city of Jackson zoning expert plan to provide an update about the issue during a meeting on Feb. 19 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Mermaid Café at Lake Caroline.
Present at the meeting will be William Drinkwater of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, who was hired by Neighbors United for Responsible Planning & Zoning as its lawyer in the fight to rezone property for the proposed convenience store named Stribling Market; Trey Baxter, who represents District 2 on the Madison County Board of Supervisors; Casey Brannon, who represents District 1 on the supervisors; Richard “Taco” Johnson, constable for District 3; and Bill Hardin, a Lake Caroline resident and a former director of planning and zoning for the city of Jackson.
Drinkwater spoke during the “concerned citizens” segment of the Madison County Board of Supervisors meeting on Jan.18 and told the supervisors that the rezoning requirements for the convenience store have not been met.
“In order to rezone property in Mississippi, you have to have someone submit an application for rezoning, you have to post and publish a notice of a public hearing, you have to conduct a public hearing, then there has to be an ordinance or resolution passed approving the rezoning,” he said.
Drinkwater said Hardin reviewed the county records and is unable to determine that the requirements for rezoning have been met.
“There’s a very serious question as to whether this property is zoned for the use that is proposed,” Drinkwater said.
Andy Clark, attorney for the Madison County Planning and Zoning Commission said during the supervisors’ meeting that the commission is waiting to receive from the developer a legal description for the 55 acres proposed to be rezoned before it sets a date for a public hearing and posts and publishes a public notice about it.
