Questions Linger On The Future Of Pecan Acres

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- It’s a topic that continues to stir up conversation in Starkville, what will the future hold for the Pecan Acres subdivision.

It was back in April when WCBI first reported the Starkville Housing Authority is looking to move tenants to a new location.

The housing authority is making a proposal to move residents from their current location, which is along Highway 12, to a new site just off of Highway 82 across from Long’s Lake near Tally Ho Road.

“It’s 350 acres, so there’s been some discussion about how far off 82, what’s going to be in front of it, there’s still a lot of negotiations on that,” said Loren Bell, Chairman of the Starkville Housing Authority Board. “The developer wanted to initially have some frontage property, we’re not too keen on that so we’re still in that negotiation stage.”

The housing authority has hosted a series of meetings with residents to inform them on the proposed changes.

Bell said so far, many of the residents in Pecan Acres have been open to the move.

“Overwhelmingly supportive,” Bell expressed. “I was more worried about our senior area of the McDowell property is what we call that, and it was almost unanimous that they were in favor of moving forward with this project.”

However some concerns still linger.

On Thursday night, the housing authority held another meeting to answer any questions residents and community members may have.

During the meeting many in attendance expressed they’d like to see adequate transportation for residents if they do move to the new location, and a grocery store added to that side of town.

“I think it’s got the potential to be a win-win hopefully,” said Hamp Beatty, a resident of Starkville.

Beatty is one of the many who was in attendance Thursday night.

The Starkville resident said he’s not against the new project.

However, he would like to see more community involvement, and for the housing authority to ensure the quality of life will improve in Starkville with this project

“We want the developers to come here and build and make money, we just want them to do it the right way,” Beatty explained. “I feel like it’s encumbent on the city to make sure that the buildings, particularly commercial buildings are constructed in a way that they’re going to be something that we will be OK looking at for the next 25 or 30 or 40 years.

Bell also noted that this isn’t a done deal.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development must approve everything before the plans are approved.