MCA Chapter 5

in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-1 Declaration of public policy.

It is hereby declared that the state public welfare demands and the state public policy requires legislation to encourage the establishment of standard industrial parks or districts by various subdivisions of the state in order to further stimulate the industrial development of the state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-3 Encouragement of establishment of parks.

The Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board, hereinafter referred to as the “board,” shall be and is hereby authorized, empowered and directed to encourage the establishment of such industrial parks or districts where said parks or districts are found to be necessary to the development of the several municipalities of this state, including counties, supervisors districts, cities, towns or villages, or combinations thereof lying in the same or in adjacent counties, all hereinafter referred to as “municipalities.”

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-5 Establishment of minimum requirements for industrial park or district.

The board shall establish, adopt and promulgate certain specific minimum requirements that will clearly describe and define the minimum requirements for an industrial park or district within the meaning of this chapter. Such minimum requirements shall, in all cases, include a complete engineering study composed of maps of the proposed park or district, details of proposed development, and itemized estimate of all costs involved in acquiring and developing such industrial park or district. Such engineering study, including the details of the proposed development and the cost estimates shall be made by a reputable engineer or engineering firm licensed to do business in Mississippi and qualified to make a survey or study of the cost and feasibility of such an industrial park or district.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-7 Assistance to municipality in studying feasibility of establishing industrial park; conduct of joint study by state and municipality.

When any municipality shall desire to have a study made to determine the cost and feasibility of establishing a standard industrial park or district, the governing body of such municipality may, by resolution, make application to the agricultural and industrial board for the assistance to the municipality provided by this chapter. Upon receipt of a written request for such assistance from the governing body of such municipality, the board is authorized and empowered to jointly undertake the study by mutual and written consent with the municipality, and to jointly employ an engineer or engineering firm to make the study. In case of such joint action by the board and the municipality, the board is authorized and empowered to pay up to twenty-five percent (25%) of the cost of such jointly authorized engineering study. However, the amount to be paid by the board shall not exceed a total of two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) for any one municipality.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-9 Determination of necessity for establishment of industrial park or district.

The board is charged with the duty of making effective the declared public policy of the state and municipalities as hereinabove set forth, and for that purpose is hereby authorized and empowered to determine whether the public convenience and necessity require that any municipality shall have the right to acquire lands, and thereon to bring into completion such “standard” industrial districts or parks and to dispose of or rent, let or lease any part or parts or all of such developed parks or districts for industrial purposes.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-11 Application for certificate by municipality; hearings on application.

Each municipality within this state shall have the right to apply to the board for a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the board as to whether the general welfare requires that such municipality enter into the development of such a “standard” industrial park or district. In determining whether such certificate shall be issued, the board may hold hearings, make such investigation as may be desired, and shall have power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, hear testimony and make a record of all things had and done at such hearings or investigations, and to order issued such certificates of convenience and necessity as to the board may seem advisable.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-13 Factors to be determined in ruling upon application for certificate; authority conferred by certificate; disposition of proceeds from sale, lease, etc. of park.

The board shall investigate, find and determine, upon application of any municipality therefor, as to whether a certificate of public convenience and necessity shall be issued to such municipality to engage in the acquisition and development of a “standard” industrial park or district deemed essential under the above declared public policy for the economic development and advancement of said municipality, and in considering and determining whether or not such certificate shall be issued, the board shall find and determine affirmatively the following: That there are sufficient natural resources readily and economically available to attract industrial plants to sites within said municipality or (in the case of a city, town or village constituting a municipality as defined in this chapter) situate in reasonable proximity thereto. That there is available a labor supply to furnish workers to plants that might be induced to locate in such industrial park or district. That there are adequate property values and suitable financial conditions so that the total bonded indebtedness of the municipality, solely for the purposes authorized by this chapter, shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the total assessed valuation of all the property in the municipality. That the complete engineering study reveals that a suitable site for a “standard” industrial park or district does exist within the municipality or (in the case of a city, town or village constituting a municipality as defined in this chapter) situate in reasonable proximity thereto, and that it can be properly developed at costs that will make sites in the proposed district attractive to prospective new industries. When the board shall have determined said facts favorably, it is authorized and empowered to issue or refuse to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity to said municipality to acquire and properly develop the said “standard” industrial park or district. If and when such certificate is issued, it shall authorize the particular municipality to acquire, to own, to develop, to sell, to convey, to let, to lease or to rent any part, or parts, or all of said industrial district but said certificate shall expire in twelve (12) months from its date unless within said time such industrial park or district shall have been established; subject, however, to any delays necessitated by any litigation, or acts of God, delaying the establishment of said development. Should any municipality sell, convey, let, lease or rent any part or parcel of an industrial park established under this chapter, the municipality must receive a consideration therefor, equal to an amount which said part or parcel so sold, conveyed, let, leased or rented bears to its proportionate part of the total cost of the entire industrial park. Any sums received by said municipality from the sale or lease of any part or parcel of said industrial park shall be paid into a sinking fund to be designated and used for the payment of both principal and interest on all bonds issued by the municipality for the purpose of acquiring and developing said industrial park or parks.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-15 Terms and conditions of certificate.

If and when the certificate is issued, the board therein shall fix and determine: (1) The extent and the amount to which the municipality may issue bonds or make expenditures for such development; (2) what property may be acquired therefor; (3) the terms upon which such acquisition may be had; (4) what expenditures may be made to properly develop said property into a “standard” industrial park or district; and, (5) the method of operation of said industrial park by the municipality.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-17 Creation of park or district by municipalities or counties acting jointly.

Municipalities of this state, including counties, judicial districts of counties having two judicial districts in which State Highways No. 18 and 15 intersect or in which State Highway No. 6 and Interstate Highway No. 55 intersect, supervisors districts, cities, towns or villages whether existing under special charters or otherwise, hereinabove called “municipalities” acting severally or jointly with one or more other municipalities, be and each of them is hereby authorized and empowered to make effective the provisions herein contained, for the general welfare of the state and the several municipalities thereof. When and after such municipality shall have obtained therefor a certificate of public convenience and necessity, under the provisions of this chapter, then it may acquire land by purchase, gift or otherwise for the “standard” industrial park or district thus approved, and may directly or by contract, such contract to be entered into and governed as now provided by law for other public contracts entered into by boards of supervisors, grade, level, drain, build streets, wharf, dock and water terminal facilities, install water and sewage facilities, erect fences, establish an office, obtain and install such essential facilities, equipment or appliances, construct railroad spurs, contribute toward making rail and utility services available to the district subject to the provisions of Sections 77-3-1 through 77-3-89, Mississippi Code of 1972, and do such other things as may be essential to the complete development of said industrial district, including the right to operate the district, and with concurrence of the board, to sell, to convey, to let, to lease or to rent any part, or parts, or all of said district. The power thus to do is hereby generally conferred upon all such municipalities and shall be in addition to all other powers now possessed without in anywise limiting or circumscribing them. Any city or town in this state situated in a county bordering on the Mississippi River and situated not more than five miles from the proposed site of any industrial park or district proposed to be created and established under the provisions of this chapter, such distance to be measured between the corporate line of any such city or town nearest such proposed site and the boundary of such proposed site nearest such corporate line, is hereby authorized and empowered to join with another municipality, as defined herein, in the creation, establishment, acquisition, ownership, control, sale, lease, disposition and disposal of any such industrial park or district, and the property, real and personal, acquired, owned or otherwise possessed and controlled by or for such industrial park or district under the authority of this chapter, notwithstanding the fact that the industrial park or district, or the proposed industrial park or district, and the property thereof, is situated in another supervisors district other than the supervisors district in which such city or town is situated. In all cases provided for in this paragraph, all authority, powers, privileges and rights provided for in this chapter shall be and are hereby conferred upon and vested in such city or town and such other municipality as may join therewith, as herein authorized.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-19 Rules and regulations; laws governing bonds and elections.

The board is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt and put into effect all reasonable rules and regulations that it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter, not inconsistent therewith, and the board and the municipalities receiving certificates of convenience and necessity under this chapter, shall be governed in holding municipal elections, in the issuance of municipal bonds, their forms, terms, the necessary tax levies, the exemption of bonds from taxation and the joining of various municipalities in establishing said industrial districts, by the same conditions, terms and laws applicable to the issuance of industrial bonds as authorized and provided by Sections 57-1-1 through 57-1-51, 57-1-101 through 57-1-107 and 57-1-131 through 57-1-145.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-21 Powers and duties as to industrial parks conferred on other political subdivisions or units; eminent domain.

The several municipalities of this state, including counties, supervisors districts, cities, towns or villages, or combinations thereof contiguous to and lying in the same or adjacent counties, all hereinafter referred to as “municipalities,” shall have all the rights, powers and duties as contained in Sections 57-5-1 through 57-5-19, plus the right of eminent domain in the acquisition of up to twenty-five percent(25%) of the land for a “standard” industrial park if and when the owner or owners of at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the acreage involved have either sold such acreage to the municipality or placed such acreage under option to said municipality.

Miss. Code Ann. § 57-5-23 Certificate as evidence of authority to exercise power of eminent domain.

The Mississippi Agricultural and Industrial Board, hereinafter referred to as the “board,” in issuing a certificate of public convenience and necessity to a municipality to engage in the acquisition and development of a “standard” industrial park or district shall be advised by the municipality of its need to use the power of eminent domain in the acquisition of a part of the acreage involved, not to exceed twenty-five percent (25%), and the board shall so specify in said certificate, which shall be the municipality’s evidence of authority to use the power of eminent domain as above specifically defined.