Jackson Free Press

The Ridgeland Board of Aldermen voted 4-to-3 in favor of the construction of a 13-story office building. Ridgeland codes currently limit building heights to four stories, so developer Buster Bailey asked the city to authorize a code variance for his development.

The building, which will be located near the Ridgeland exit and upscale Dinsmor subdivision, is drawing criticism from residents who fear the building will herald an urban transformation in the otherwise pristine bedroom community. Bailey also drew smoldering looks from Jackson advocates, who complained that the project enticed two distinguished downtown Jackson businesses to relocate. Horne CPA Group and the law firm of Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada are both slated to occupy the building.

The regional headquarters of Regions Bank is also rumored to relocate to the new development, but residents fear the bank's tendency to be bought out—Regions is the third company to own the local branch in 15 years—could eventually conclude with Regions moving its offices to a new location and leaving an empty office suite in its wake.

The Board of Aldermen approved the variance well after midnight. Voting against the project were Ken Heard, Gerald Steen and Kevin Hoder. Linda Davis, Scott Jones, Larry Roberts and Chuck Gautier voted in favor of the project. Attorney Steve Smith represented Ridgeland residents in opposition to the development and told the Clarion-Ledger he would appeal the decision if the variance moved forward.

Previous Comments

ID

96201

Comment

Good, Ridgeland is coming up in the world. As long as we stay ahead of Madison, I'm pleased.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2007-10-11T11:15:32-06:00

ID

96202

Comment

Who's got the biggest 'you know what' in Madison now! Gee, I'm surprised we haven't heard that this is somehow Harvey's fault. ;-p Maybe if Parkway had built a mountain instead of a molehill downtown this wouldn't be an issue? Ba dduh ding! that's right folks I'm here every Thursday and Friday. Two shows 7 and 9. A laugh a minute...

Author

pikersam

Date

2007-10-11T12:20:34-06:00

ID

96203

Comment

If Ridgeland didn't want it, Jackson sure would've loved to have it.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2007-10-11T15:12:25-06:00

ID

96204

Comment

golden, I don't think they would have let Jackson have it. I think they're trying to create another urban mecca in Ridgeland.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2007-10-11T15:29:44-06:00

ID

96205

Comment

yeah they trying to get the bid on the state capital being moved to ridgeland, maybe they will get it a new state capital biulding made out of nothing but red brick and four stories tall and all. i said this all along that some people from the suburbs want to wipe jackson off the map.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-10-11T16:57:11-06:00

ID

96206

Comment

With people like Melton in charge, who wants to locate such a nice building in Jackson?

Author

LawClerk

Date

2007-10-12T05:22:59-06:00

ID

96207

Comment

lawclerk at first you was for melton when he was on trial now you want to use him as the reason for not putting the biulding in jackson if hes not good for that reason than hes not good for any other reason.

Author

NewJackson

Date

2007-10-12T08:27:15-06:00

ID

96208

Comment

NewJackson... You might want to do a little research on LawClerk because you do NOT know what you're talking about.

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-10-12T08:45:07-06:00

ID

96209

Comment

Ridgeland is doing what it has to do to stay competitive, but it's unfortunate that they have to be hypocrites to do it.

Author

Jacobi

Date

2007-10-12T09:43:56-06:00

ID

96210

Comment

"lawclerk at first you was for melton when he was on trial now you want to use him as the reason for not putting the biulding in jackson if hes not good for that reason than hes not good for any other reason." Hahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! That is funny!

Author

LawClerk

Date

2007-10-12T15:30:50-06:00

ID

96211

Comment

Law Clerk was certainly not for Melton.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2007-10-12T15:37:18-06:00

ID

96212

Comment

I am still very much not for Melton... I did use to be though, just not anymore. I see the truth. I saw the light.

Author

LawClerk

Date

2007-10-12T21:00:54-06:00

ID

96213

Comment

Yes, we all did. But, you saw the light well before the trial. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was Donna's interview with little frankie in the April 12th JFP. little frankie: “I’m going to ban all guns shows from coming to Jackson. I’ll cut the order this evening. I can do anything I want with an executive order. I don’t need council approval.” Read the whole story here. Of course, that's against state law, so he couldn't do that. It also contradicted what Melton said when was running for the. “I say we just enforce the ordinances we have.” Earlier in the summer little frankie was on Paul Gallo's show. A caller pressed him about the issue of wanting to ban gun shows. What did little frankie do? He lied. "There are some people putting that out there, and it's just not true.

Author

Cliff Cargill

Date

2007-10-13T05:59:46-06:00