A preliminary land-use plan, seen by its preparers and supervisors as Warren County’s initial step toward zoning, was viewed informally by supervisors Thursday.

The draft report is likely subject to months of additional study and revision, with the board’s stamp of approval needed for maps to become available to the public.

Still, the work provided a guide to planning supervisors found generally agreeable.

&#8220I’m pleased with it, myself,” District 1 Supervisor David McDonald said. &#8220It keeps the agricultural areas intact.”

Supervisors have commissioned the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District, of which the county is a member, to conduct long-range studies, including a use plan for facilities.

Vicksburg is fully zoned, meaning private owners of property may only use their land for the specific purposes provided for their tracts in the zoning ordinance. A gas station, for example, could not be built in a residential zone.

While Warren County does have limited subdivision ordinances, it does not have general zoning, seen as a way to promote orderly growth, enhance the value of developments and, consequently, tax values.

Maps accompanying the study advise District 1, covering the northeastern section of the county, remain medium-density residential east of U.S. 61 North and north of Interstate 20. Much of the rest of the district is recommended for agricultural only.

William Peacock of CMPDD addressed supervisors on the study’s major points and addressed questions of enforcing a future zoning code.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders expressed a desire for further discussion with Peacock, as much of the southern end of his southwestern district is suggested for agricultural use.

&#8220This is real preliminary,” District 5 Supervisor and Board President Richard George said. &#8220It’s going to be some time before we can fully evaluate it.”

Some developers like the stability zoning ordinances provide. Others see it as a limitation of their freedom. In years past, there have been low-key, but stringent opposition to any type of controls, including building codes, in Warren County outside Vicksburg.

By state law, any zoning of land usage must be based on a comprehensive plan, the full scope of which supervisors hired CMPDD in August 2005 to prepare.

The public facilities plan took three months to complete between its draft version and the final version. It focused primarily on space in the jail and courthouse, with the report advising an extra circuit courtroom be built and doubling bed space in the jail. It stopped short of recommending a new jail be built, but supervisors have generally agreed with Sheriff Martin Pace about the need for a new one, likely to be financed through a bond issue and cost $10 million.

As for the land usage report, an additional point of discussion was clusters of homes where a commercial business or two might exist, sections described by Flanders as &#822095 percent residential but then you have a service station or a hair shop in there.”

In those situations, Peacock said, zones can be crafted to include a &#8220mom-and-pop convenience store.” However, he said, instances of a commercial business within a residential zone that is destroyed by fire or natural disasters can be rebuilt only to its original purpose. Areas of development governed by private covenant agreements generally are not affected by zoning, Peacock said.

The report estimates an overall population growth in Warren County between 7.5 and 11 percent by 2030, a forecast comprising the bulk of the county’s projected medium-density residential development from the city limits southeast to Mississippi 27.