Lafayette County Planning Commission to review office complex plans

Published 9:38 am Monday, August 28, 2017

Plans for the new Lafayette County Office Complex and Multi-use Arena are moving forward with the Lafayette County Planning Commission formally reviewing the preliminary and final site plan tonight.

Last week, architect Cory Alger presented the plans to the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors as an update on the project during the board’s budget meeting, which included a 3-D flyover of the proposed complex.

Tonight the planning commission members will vote on whether to recommend to the supervisors to approve the site plan.

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The future office park, being built on County Road 406, will provide more space for several local agencies that will allow them to grow and provide more services locally and regionally.

The office park will consist of four buildings — one for the Mississippi Department of Human Services and Child Protection Services; one for the coroner, which will include a morgue, one for the WIN Job Center, which will include office space for the driver’s license office and a court building.

The court building will be about 13,805 square feet and house the County Justice Court and Oxford Municipal Court.

The city will pay the county $85,000 a year for 10 years, along with an estimated $9,660 for the city’s share of utilities.

Part of the total lease amount, $850,000, may be defrayed by the value of the city’s in-kind provision and installation of municipal sewer facilities servicing the property.

The total square footage of all four buildings will be 41,575 with 207 parking spaces available.

On the southeast corner of the site, there will be a 48,000-square foot arena, a 3,000-seat amphitheater and an office for the Lafayette County Extension Services.

The total estimated cost for the center and arena is $8,553,000. The supervisors voted earlier this year to use part of a $20 million bond to pay for the project.

The planning commission will meet at 5 p.m. tonight at the Lafayette County Justice Center.