by DAVID HAMILTON

NATCHEZ — The future of the bean field located adjacent to Natchez High School remains unclear to stakeholders, governing officials included.

Nearly a decade after recreation leaders proposed the grounds be used for the construction of a baseball and softball complex, the open field remains just that. While the project has been stagnant, whose responsibility it is to move the process forward depends upon whom is asked.

Adams County Board of Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said the public is tired of waiting for county and city leaders to move on recreation, and right now the board of aldermen hold the key.

“We can’t move recreation forward until the city aldermen make a decision on that bean field — is it for recreation or education?” Lazarus said. “If it is education, that is fine, the county is ready to do capital improvements (at Duncan and other community parks).”

The capital improvements fund is a 10-year plan in which the county and the Community Development Fund board will each invest $1 million in recreation. The board oversees annual payments Magnolia Bluffs Casino makes to the city for community development purposes. The payments are a small part of the casino’s lease agreement for the city-owned Roth Hill Road site where the casino operates.

Lazarus said the sense he is getting is the aldermen will donate the land to the school district for the school board to potentially build a new high school, and he said he is OK with that outcome.

In 2009 when the recreation referendum for a baseball and softball complex originally passed by 78 percent, Lazarus said the travel ball idea had merit, Lazarus said with tournament-level complexes in Vidalia, Brookhaven and St. Francisville, the ship might have sailed for a complex to be an economic development driver.

“It is not the deal it once was,” Lazarus said. “Jackson, Baton Rouge and Southaven will get their tournaments, and we will be competing against Vidalia, St. Francisville and every little in between town for the same slice.”

Lazarus said if the county instead focused on recreation being for the county’s children, then improving Duncan Park and other community parks makes a lot of sense.

“We could put in new fencing, new bleachers, go in and fix the bathrooms, maybe put $100,000 into a new playground and just spruce the park up,” Lazarus said. “We could make big difference.”

Lazarus said putting the pool first has ultimately slowed down the aspects of recreation that were supposed to come first, and he didn’t want the school situation to continue to slow down a comprehensive recreation plan.

“You could be working on ball fields or Duncan Park upgrades and the pool at the same time,” Lazarus said. “It is two different pots of money. The pool money is already set aside, and the other is $100,000 a year for 10 years — that’s going to end up being a bond issue. We could be working on this simultaneously.”

Whatever potential groundbreaking may occur, it must first go through the Natchez Board of Aldermen.

YMCA of Natchez Director Alice Agner said the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission is in a holding pattern.

“We believe that at some point the item will need to go the Board of Alderman for a vote as the bean field belongs to the City,” she said.

Since the bean field is city-owned land, a new school facility would require a board vote to deed the land — at least a portion of it — over to the school district.

In this regard, some board members appear willing, while others are more hesitant.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said while she believed the property could be utilized for both education and recreational purposes, the former is clearly her first priority.

“I’m still with the fact that the bean field should be used to build a brand new high school,” Arceneaux-Mathis said.

She reasoned that the current high school building — which opened in 1962 as Natchez-Adams County High School — presents a hazardous environment for faculty and students. The building forces students and faculty to go outside when going from one classroom to the next, which Arceneaux-Mathis said makes the building impossible to secure.

“The school itself as it is constructed does not address the climate that the state, the United States., and the entire world are facing now,” Arceneaux-Mathis said.

The Ward 1 Alderwoman also said, however, she firmly believes the field has enough acreage to support a new school and recreation complexes.

Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia Irving’s views about the bean field align with those of Arceneaux-Mathis. Irving also said constructing a new high school — along with maintenance of the current facility — is her first priority.

“I believe that both (educational and recreational facilities) would be beneficial, but truly a new school is needed,” Irving said.

Irving believes education and recreation go “hand-in-hand” with each other, suggesting recreation complexes could lead to potential scholarship opportunities for students down the road.

Irving said she would be willing to deed the bean field land over to the school district, should a vote come to the board of aldermen in the future.

“That’s what I would do for a new school to be built,” Irving said.

But other board members want more information and discussion before making a decision.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sarah Smith said she believes education is a vital concern, but said the delegates of the city and county need to come together before she makes any decision about the bean field.

“The recreation commission, the city and the county … I think it’s time for us to come up with a clear plan of what is the next step,” Smith said.

Smith said considering the bean field “from an economic development standpoint” is necessary, especially considering the potential of hosting tournaments to draw visitors into town.

Only after the city receives a formal request, Smith said, would she be able to really understand what the school district wants done with the field.

Ward 6 Alderman Dan Dillard also would not say whether the field should be used for education, recreation or both at this stage, but insisted that the decision needs to come through the board of aldermen regardless of the field’s intended use.

“In my opinion, the board of aldermen has to come to that decision,” Dillard said. “That’s city property — that’s not (recreation commission) property.”

Dillard said he would consider information from both sides — the recreation commission and the school district — but emphasized the ultimate decision rests with the aldermen.

As for Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell, he said the bean field could be more than a simple recreation vs. education dilemma.

Grennell recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., where he participated in discussions with lawmakers about President Donald Trump’s new focus on infrastructure.

Grennell said plans for an interstate that could run through Natchez could become a reality.

Interstate 14 between Savannah, Ga., and Natchez was first proposed in 2005. Congress has been studying the feasibility of the project since then, but no funding has been allocated for the project. In 2011, lawmakers extended the western terminus of the proposed interstate to El Paso, Texas. More studies were conducted to look at the feasibility of including U.S. 190 in Texas.

In 2015, former President Barack Obama signed into law the transportation act that designated portions of U.S. 190 as the I-14 Central Texas Corridor.

“I-14 is planned to run right through Alexandria, La., and Natchez before going through Meridian and Montgomery, Ala.,” Grennell said. “Texas has worked hard on this, and with the new national focus on infrastructure, it has a very real chance of being built.”

Because of this added wrinkle, Grennell said municipal bodies must give further consideration to the field’s usage.

“The bean field is prime economic development land, and it needs to be studied in light of this potential new dynamic before it’s used for any other purpose,” Grennell said.

Concerning educational or recreational use of the field, Grennell referred back to the 2009 referendum and said his “feelings are clear” where he stands on the issue.

“This question was put before the voters, and the voters have spoken,” Grennell said. “For any group to try to circumvent the will of the people sets a dangerous precedent.

“Our system is based upon the vote, and we have to stick to that.”

Grennell acknowledged that the city has a “failing public school system,” and said he wants school children to have new facilities, but noted that “new buildings alone are not a cure-all that will turn those schools around.”