BREAKING NEWS 4

Published 12:00 am Monday, January 11, 2016

By Rupert Howell
Panola supervisors with one new member are again expected next Monday to decide whether to approve Panola County Land Commissions recommendation for special exception to allow APAC Mississippi to place a gravel/sand mining operation with wash plant and crusher at a location south of Sardis on Harris Road.
That decision was postponed twice previously when supervisors voted to take the matter under advisement.
Former board president Kelly Morris who was considered a proponent of the Land Commission’s decision has been replaced by newly elected District Four Supervisor Donald Phelps. District Five Supervisor Cole Flint, considered an opponent of the Land Commission’s decision, now serves as president of the board.
The Land Commissioner’s October decision was challenged and appealed to supervisors by property owner Nolan West of H & G Land Company who previously had an agreement with APAC for a similar operation near Como.
West’s site was not recommended by the Land Commission and West along with APAC appealed the denial of the special exception to the board of supervisors who ruled in favor of the mining operation in 2013.
Meanwhile the group opposing the West/APAC Como site filed suit and that matter is still awaiting a Supreme Court ruling although APAC officials now say their company has no interest in an operation at the Como site.
Land commissioners voted 8-1 in October to approve the new APAC site with only West and Dr. Mike Havens speaking against allowing the special exception.
During the November supervisor meeting, West spoke against the decision as well as the process of repurposing land classifications currently used by commissioners and Panola County.
He stated that the commission’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious,” and minutes of the commission had yet to be approved by that board or the board of supervisors who has the ultimate authority in the decisions being made concerning land use.
West also alluded to the current legal status of his property, questioning whether the county wanted to get into another lawsuit and asking what assurances were there if APAC pulled out of the proposed site like they did his.
APAC had earlier alluded to the fact that they already had another site that had been permitted previously should the current request be denied.
Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. in the Batesville Courthouse with that gravel mine decision expected to come up early on the agenda.