The City of Vicksburg is abandoning plans to build a storage warehouse near the Vicksburg Convention Center and is instead looking to buy a pair of tractor-trailers to store crowd control barriers it recently purchased, said Purchasing Director Tim Smith.

“We’re getting quotes now, and it’s looking like the trailers are going to cost about $5,000 each,” said Smith, who speculated the trailers will be purchased in the next 30 days.

The Vicksburg Board of Architectural Review last week rejected the city’s request to build a 3,750-square-foot storage building at 601 Depot St., saying the warehouse would set back downtown beautification efforts. Smith said the city will not appeal the decision to the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

About six years ago, the city purchased the Depot Street property and demolished a warehouse on site as part of its urban renewal initiative. The site, as pointed out by architectural review board member Tom Pharr at the Jan. 12 meeting, has long been eyed as a possible location for a hotel to complement the convention center.

The city is in need of a location to store 940 crowd control barricades purchased with a $67,680 federal Justice Assistance Grant, as well as other downtown supplies and holiday decorations.

“We don’t have a central location warehouse to store those kinds of things right now,” Smith said.

The barricades are to be used downtown during parades and festivals. A few were placed along Washington Street over last weekend in preparation for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade, but rain canceled the event. The next time they’ll be used is during the Mardi Gras parade, scheduled for Feb. 13. The barriers are temporarily being stored in the basement of the convention center, said Smith.

The city is looking at two, 53-foot tractor trailers to store the barricades. They will be placed at the Vicksburg Water Treatment Plant on Haining Road, where Smith said security should not be an issue. Two trailers are being purchased so the barricades can be stored with the legs assembled.

“It’s going to be a lot of extra work if our crews have to take them apart to store them and vice versa,” he said. When needed, the trailers can be pulled to venues for placement.

With multiple quotes, the purchasing director has authority to make any purchase under $25,000 without publishing a request for formal bids or getting approval from the mayor and aldermen.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com