By Rhonda Dunaway
Enterprise-Journal
Area residents, business owners and officials attended the City of McComb’s comprehensive planning meeting on Tuesday, with the consulting firm Kendig Keast Collaborative.
Christian Lentz, senior associate with the firm, was on hand at the McComb Sports Park with materials for visitors to look through from the book “McComb in Motion,” the comprehensive plan for growth and development for the city over the next 20 years.
Lentz showed visitors the first drafts of five chapters of the book.
Lentz was open for input on the chapters.
“We’re charged with creating a comprehensive plan with seven chapters,” he said. “It’s very important to hear from the community on these final chapters, which include land use and character and implementation — what you want your city streets to look like, where you want industry, where you want residential and rural areas to be, and how best to get the job done.”
Lentz explained that land use and character involves classifying the areas of the city such as rural, urban and suburban, and properties that are institutional, commercial or residential.
The firm had two strategy posters on the wall for Mobility and Community Growth, which gave visitors a chance to vote on which strategies had the highest priorities.
Visitors also were provided with comment cards where they could detail any concerns or ideas.
Mayor Whitney Rawlings said the timing is right for this kind of work.
“The most important reason we wanted to have this in place was to be prepared for sudden growth,” Rawlings said.
He explained that he and other officials made visits to cities that had experienced sudden growth in their economies.
“We took a look at what they were doing, what they did that didn’t work and what does work. Based on a lot of study we have already put some ordinances in place. I believe that the TMS boon is coming. So, I think now is a good time to get this work done,” the mayor said.
Dinner Bell owner Andre Davis and investment managers Greg and Neel Gibson came to see how the city is going to handle infrastructure issues — ordinances and up keep.
Davis said he wanted to know about fixing the current infrastructure.
“We need to focus on some of the infrastructure we already have,” Davis said. “One of my pet peeves is the log trucks that run through town. What regulations do they have? The trucks tear up our roads and some of those loads look pretty sketchy. But, I will say that anything that grows McComb is good with me.”
Greg Gibson said he and his brother buy and manage real estate.
“We manage rentals and sell real estate,” Gibson said. “We also assist people with investing their money. So, it’s our business to keep up with growth and development in Pike County.”
Sam Sanders, president of State Bank, had the same intentions. He wanted to see what strategies the company had come up with.
“I think it’s a good idea to know where we are at and where we are headed as a city,” he said. “I am also very interested in seeing how things are going to be implemented.”
Lentz said the company will take the information from Tuesday’s meeting and finish writing the final chapters on “Land Use and Character” and “Implementation.” It will then be reviewed by city officials for approval by the board of selectmen.
