By Rupert Howell

Just one item scheduled for public hearing before the Batesville City Board of Mayor and Aldermen turned into a day-long marathon session before city fathers agreed to provide Big Delta Honda representatives a list of required documentation  needed before they could make a decision concerning their proposed building addition.

Big Delta Powersports owners Brent and Kirt Rowsey said time was important as they are attempting to land other brands such as Kawasaki at their Cracker-Barrel Drive location that would bring not only more business to Big Delta, but to the city as well.

The local entity sells name brand big ticket items such as motorcycles, four-wheelers, side-by-sides and lawn mowers as well as service, drawing customers from a wide circle of the region.

A variance on the building design had been previously issued but a building permit has yet to be obtained city fathers learned well into the meeting and after the business owners had left with Panola Construction representative Harry Guckert.

Kirt Rowsey explained he was under the impression that an additional $80,000 to $85,000 would have to be spent to put a sprinkler system throughout the proposed addition, a 2010 addition and the original building.

He was asking that the board consider dropping that requirement claiming the city may have been negligent by not alerting them to the requirement with their 2010 addition and told the board that other options may have been considered then if those requirements were known.

After several hours the board and their attorney determined they were not able to make the decision due to lack of documentation. Fire Inspector Brett Childs said without plans including proposed occupancy, and building area use, he could not recommend whether sprinklers were needed throughout the building or if an alternative such as firewalls or extra doors could be used instead.

Code officials explained later that the burden is put on the building owner, their contractor or engineer to verify that requirements for a building permit application with detailed plans are met.
From that documentation, code officers make their acceptance or recommendation.

Aldermen discussed at length building codes with Attorney Colmon Mitchell explaining the current regulations are based on the 2006 Southern Building Code while the state has already adopted the more stringent 2012 code.