Lafayette County supervisors deny rezoning for Hipp Industrial Park parcels

Three parcels in the Max D. Hipp Industrial Park will stay under heavier industrial rules after Lafayette County supervisors voted 3-1 Monday to reject a rezoning request that opponents said could have opened the door to more intensive uses near County Road 166 and Taylor. John Morgan, Greg Bynum and Scott Allen voted to deny the change. Tim Gordon cast the lone vote against denial.

The decision preserved the county’s long-standing heavy-industry designation for land first mapped that way in 1985, rather than moving it to light-industrial zoning where heavier uses would require conditional approval. That distinction is more than technical in Lafayette County. It controls what can be built by right, what needs extra review and how much truck traffic, noise and industrial activity the county is willing to place near surrounding neighborhoods.

The rezoning fight had already been through one major public hearing. The Lafayette County Planning Commission denied the request on March 23 after a meeting that lasted nearly four hours, showing how deeply the issue had divided residents and officials before it reached the supervisors. Ronnie McGinness, who filed the request and said he has lived in the area since 2008, argued that the land around the park had changed from mostly industrial to largely residential. He said more than 6,000 residents live within two miles of the site and submitted a petition with more than 560 signatures backing the change.

Those supporters pushed for tighter limits on heavier industrial uses, including a proposed asphalt plant. At the planning commission hearing, residents raised concerns about air pollution, noise, traffic, odor, stormwater runoff and long-term health effects. McGinness also pointed to multiple subdivisions and nearby schools as evidence that the area had outgrown the old industrial map.

The rezoning request is tied directly to Magnolia Materials, owned by JWM Development and associated with J.W. McCurdy. The county had already approved a 35-year lease for the site at $5,000 a year and gave preliminary approval to the plant’s site plan on January 5. The proposal called for production of up to 300 tons per hour, storage for as many as 20 trucks, a testing lab, office space, raw-material storage and the asphalt mixing facility itself. Oxford aldermen later approved city water service for the project, and city engineer John Crawley said the company would need to extend a water main about 400 feet to reach the site.

The vote also set a precedent for future growth around the park. Oxford-Lafayette, Inc. president Ryan Miller said changing the zoning could reduce flexibility and limit the range of industries the county can attract. Attorney Walt Davis, representing nearby residents, argued the county’s growth had already outpaced the old designation and that a less intensive industrial category better fit the area’s long-term future. County attorney David O’Donnell said the asphalt plant would remain a grandfathered use if zoning changed, but any future occupant would have to comply with the updated rules. For now, supervisors have drawn a firm line on what kind of industrial expansion will be allowed to press against nearby homes and businesses.