Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace recommended the county consider an ordinance that would close nightclubs outside city limits by 1 a.m.
The recommendation is an effort to encourage zoning and building codes outside the city.
Nightclubs that operate in Warren County far outside the city limits of Vicksburg are often tucked away in trailer parks off the beaten path of major thoroughfares.
Pace told supervisors Vicksburg Warren E-911 has taken 56 calls in the past year to report various disturbances of the peace at one establishment, often in the wee hours of weekend mornings.
“With limited staff, my guys need to be patrolling subdivisions for car burglaries and businesses for business burglaries. I’ll have everyone on duty tied up on one nightclub disturbance at 3 o’clock in the morning when everyone needs to be asleep.”
Board President Bill Lauderdale indicated to Pace he favored going through the chancery court system to declare any building where disturbance calls pile up to be declared a public nuisance and shut down.
“If there was a new one, I’d shut him down, too,” Lauderdale said, referring to nightclubs with a high number of 911 calls attached to it. If law enforcement is having to go out there 50 times, you need to do something to those folks.”
What Warren County needs is zoning and building codes. America is the land of the free, but is also governed by laws and regulations.
Last week, citing cost in general, supervisors voted 3-2 to follow steps laid out by the Legislature to opt out of the new law requiring counties and cities to adopt any of the last three editions of the International Building Code as a minimum standard and codes in the Mississippi Builders Codes Council, which addresses plumbing and electrical standards.
No construction or land-use regulations exist in non-municipal Warren County. Construction outside the city involves only a building permit that costs $5 in most cases.
Without zoning and building codes a mish-mash of buildings, trailers, churches, business and residential areas exist within a short stretch of road.
In effect a person could buy a piece of property in the county and build their million-dollar dream home and a trailer park could soon be established next door.
If Warren County is to grow and become attractive to people and businesses outside our community then we need to plan for growth.