After a three-hour-long discourse about plans for the DeSoto Innovation District, Olive Branch Mayor and Board of Aldermen voted to table the project during an Aug. 4 meeting.
The vote means the project will have potential changes and amendments, including a height limitation for the industrial park, capping at 400,000 square feet for building capacity and 50 feet for building height. Other potential changes include the inclusion of roundabouts, traffic regulations and green spaces.
The original plans for the 562-acre site, which runs along Church Road and Craft Road, call for rezoning the land from agriculture-residential to industrial use. A small, two-acre portion of the property would be rezoned agricultural and be used for the first phase of the project, which would be a greenfill expansion of the existing DeSoto County rubbish pit. (A large portion of the land is owned by the Bridgeforth family estate.)
Robert Barber of Orion Planning Design spoke on behalf of the site developer. He said the project would be conducted in four phases, with the first phase being the greenfill, and later stages being conducted over the next several years, up to a decade. Barber said the goal of the project is to bring advanced manufacturing jobs to Olive Branch through the Innovation District.
More than 100 residents were in attendance, the majority of whom opposed the project. Several speakers cited concerns over potentially backdooring a data center development in future phases of the Innovation District. Others cited how the Olive Branch Planning Commission already unanimously voted to deny the project.
One of the many shared views of the opposition included asking the Board of the Mayor and Alderman to consider separating the project to ensure a new rubbish pit, which is a municipal need, happens without changing zoning to accommodate industrial.
"Find us a different vision," Olive Branch resident Sally Peters said regarding the existing conditions of the DeSoto Innovation District plans. She added suggestions for residential and mixed-use such as the nearby Silo Square development.
Alderman Dale Dickerson criticized plans to develop residential on the site, citing that 1,900-plus homes would cause significant traffic increases and said potential residents would take issue with living near a rubbish pit.
Alderman Pat Hamilton proposed a motion to rezone the first phase of the project for the greenfill expansion and deny the industrial rezoning plans for the remainder of the DeSoto Innovation District. That motion was denied, 4-3, with Alderman Dickerson, George Collins, Gil Earhart, and David Wallace voting against and Hamilton, Jan Aldridge, and Don Gammage voting in favor.
Olive Branch Director of Planning and Development Venard Asongayi said the project will not have a data center under conditional use, because that portion of the DeSoto Innovation District was removed during the Planning Commission's June 9 meeting. Asongayi acknowledged that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen could, however, modify conditions in the future; the board has the power to do so.
Any such changes would likely come after the Olive Branch Board of Mayor and Alderman votes on potential changes to the city's zoning ordinances regarding data center regulations.
The board will weigh in on those pending changes at its upcoming Aug. 18 meeting.
Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected], 901-426-0679
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Olive Branch aldermen delay DeSoto Innovation District vote; zoning questioned