Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Pearl River Vision Foundation, which is working with local officials to work up a plan to reduce flooding along the Pearl River, is getting $200,000 from the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership.

The award was announced this afternoon at the unveiling of the GJCP's long-range economic plan for the capital city area.

PRVF, founded by Jackson oilman John McGowan, is completing and bankrolling the environmental impact study for the plan that calls for a 1,500-acre six-mile-long lake from Lakeland Drive south to the town of Richland.

At yesterday's meeting of the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District, Levee Board members asked PRVF officials if the funding was in place to complete the EIS, which could take up to 18 months.

Dallas Quinn, PRVF's spokesman, said yesterday the group had a majority of the funding but is seeking a congressional appropriation to help provide the rest. In 2011, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the study could jump to $4 million, half of which the Levee Board would have to come up with.

Quinn also said PRVF has developed an 18-month schedule that will be posted online for the public to view.

Read the JFP's past coverage of John McGowan's Two Lakes and One Lake plan at jfp.ms/pearlriver.