In order to attract potential new businesses to the Purvis Industrial Park off of Center Industrial Row in Purvis, members of the Lamar County Board of Supervisors have taken a handful of steps to get that site ready for any future development.
Those measures were taken at a board meeting last week, when county administrator Jody Waits said there is an additional 52 acres of land off of Mangum Lane – which connects with Old Highway 11 just north of Center Industrial Row – that would be able to house some new tenants.
“There’s about 20 acres in one parcel and about 32 in another, and we’ve got a rail spur that comes in and serves the Lowe’s distribution center,” Waits said. “So that’s where we’re doing this due diligence, to get all that cleared to be able to market to a potential new business.
“There’s no (business) in particular, but that work has to be done before any business can be located there.”
The three measures that were approved at last week’s board meeting for the 52-acre site include:
- A contract with All Phases Archeology to perform a Phase I cultural resources survey in the amount of $7,146;
- A contract with Wetland Consulting Services in the amount of $1,300; and
- A contract with FC&E Engineering for Phase I of an environmental site assessment in the amount of $4,500.
“These things have to be done before anything can be located there,” Waits said. “We’ve already done the wetlands survey, and there are pretty much no wetlands to be spoken of there.
“So those other surveys have to be done in order to be able to build anything on it. This just has to be done in the early steps of trying to develop on a site.”
Waits said the addition of businesses at the industrial park would be a boon to the county, especially in terms of its tax base.
“(It’s important) to help continue the growth of our ad valorem base and hopefully create some more jobs for the area,” he said.
The industrial park currently is home to several business, including a Lowe’s Flatbed Distribution, Malt Industries, Yates Industrial Industries, Cook Portable Warehouses and Stockstill Trucking.
