The committee charged with locating a site and approving a design for Vicksburg’s proposed multipurpose sports complex received a reality check Wednesday when they learned one of the leading candidates for the proposed complex wouldn’t cut it.
Based on preliminary and unofficial measurements by Warren County District 4 Supervisor John Arnold, only about one-fourth of the 200-acre Fisher Ferry property is useable for recreation. Using a rangefinder, a piece of equipment designed to determine distance and space, Arnold estimated about 55 acres was available for some type of recreational use. North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said he estimated about 80 acres, and believes with some work there may still be an addition 8 to 10 acres.
Bought in 2003 under the administration of former Mayor Laurence Leyens for $235,000, the Fisher Ferry property was touted by Mayor George Flaggs Jr. and Southward Alderman Willis Thompson as the No. 1 choice for a sports complex for the city, citing its estimated total $2.9 million investment in the site. The board hired Stantec of Jackson to examine the feasibility of building access roads to the property from U.S. 61 South and Dana Road. The Dana Road access project, Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said Wednesday, will cost $1.8 million.
While the Fisher Ferry site holds promise for recreational use, its 55 acres of available land is a far cry from the 270-acre multipurpose recreation complex of baseball, softball, tennis courts and multipurpose building with indoor pool envisioned by the city’s ad hoc committee on recreation in its Dec. 15 report. And the city and county officials who met Wednesday were pretty much unanimous in the opinion that given Warren County’s terrain, finding the land to hold the proposed complex may be an impossible task.
“What was presented and what we can actually do are two different things,” Thompson said. “We may have to scale back.”
Thompson has the right idea.
Finding sufficient flat land anywhere in the county to accommodate a 270-acre complex is a major challenge, and there’s no guarantee the project can be done within its $20 million budget.
Scaling back is the only sensible alternative. Set the priorities, get the design and find sufficient land to build it. The items not included in the project can be planned for a second phase down the road.
There is no doubt Vicksburg and Warren County need modern recreational facilities for its residents, and to attract tournaments, but given a specific budget and the lack of large level tracts of land, the officials planning the project need to be aware of costs and getting the most value for their dollar.
A mega complex would be beautiful, but as the Rolling Stones song says, “you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”
Or as Mayfield has put several times before, “it all comes down to what are you willing to pay.”