TIF Topic of August 7 Hearing

Aug. 2, 2023

Source: Rankin County News by Charles Bailey

FLOWOOD – The Rankin County Board of Supervisors has scheduled an August 7 public hearing to discuss proposed Tax Increment Financing (TIF) plan of up to $5 million for the Pinelands development in Flowood.

No opposition was voiced during a similar hearing in before the Flowood Board of Aldermen July 17, clearing the city to issue up to $5 million in TIF bonds to help spur the project.

The entire site includes one 50-acre parcel and an 82-acre parcel along each side of Hugh Ward Blvd., which runs north from Lakeland Drive to Spillway Road. The larger parcel also fronts Lakeland Drive.

Plans include the construction of 2.6 miles of pedestrian and bicycle paths “throughout the development,” according to Justin Mahfouz, managing partner at Partridge Development Inc., which is overseeing the proposed project.

“They will connect East Pineview Drive, West Pineview Drive, Hugh Ward Blvd., The Gardens of Manship (subdivision), and Wirtz Road,” Mahfouz said.

The Pinelands would include a park for children to play, with water fountains and benches, he said, along with “lots of new-to-the-metro area and new-to-Mississippi restaurants,” Mahfouz said.  “The majority of the restaurants are building outdoor patios and bike parking so that (residents of) the surrounding neighborhoods can walk or bike over,” he said.

The existing East Pineview Drive, which runs parallel to Lakeland Drive, as the larger parcel would. It would abut The Gardens of Manship subdivision and would likely be more residential in nature, with professional office space planned along its western edge, which fronts Hugh Ward Blvd.

The land where The Pinelands is planned is currently raw and undeveloped and generates very little in property tax revenue. If built out as planned, the property tax revenue would dramatically increase. Flowood has approved its TIF pledge. If the Board of Supervisors follows suit, the increase in revenue would be used to repay the TIF bonds over a period of time.