Developers planning to build condos on the site of the old Natchez Pecan Shelling Company might soon have a new set of rules.

The permit committee of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History presented to the board of trustees Thursday conditions it suggested should be met before the developers were allowed to build.

Developers Worley-Brown, LLC, have plans to build condos on the bluff on the site of the factory.

The factory was demolished after Mayor Phillip West issued an executive order in February to tear it down, citing public safety concerns.

MDAH required certain steps to be taken before the public landmark was demolished, but none of those were met.

Since most of those requirements hinged on the building itself, new requirements for a permit to build might be necessary, MDAH Director of the Historic Preservation Division Ken P’Pool said Friday.

“The board of trustees will meet next Friday, where they will take up the issue and consider the recommendations of the permit committee,” P’Pool said.

“They will determine how to proceed from that point, whether to accept that recommendation or to follow some other course.”

The conditions the permit committee recommended are as follows:

4Natchez Preservation Commission must approve the final exterior elevations of the proposed construction.

4Worley Brown will contract with an archeological firm to conduct surveys of the area, including underneath a building slab and cistern on the property.

4The developers must agree all artifacts recovered from the site are public domain and will store them.

4A final geotechnical report attesting to the safety and stability of the site must be submitted.

Following these guidelines is even more important since MDAH made some recent findings, P’Pool said.

“In doing other, unrelated research, we were examining French colonial era maps and came across the fact apparently Natchez Indian and even French colonial constructions were very near or on the site,” he said.

“We need to take a little time and care to identify those if they are there.”

Gwen Ball, one of the Natchez residents opposed to the pecan factory’s destruction, said she attended Thursday’s meeting.

“I think they’re fair and reasonable under the circumstances,” Ball said. “I think they’re a little more detailed than the original requirements.”

Worley-Brown partner Larry Brown said he had not seen the proposed requirements, as he was out of town.

“I briefly talked to my attorney, and he said it was all right,” Brown said.

“He said the conditions were pretty standard and nothing out of the ordinary.”

Worley-Brown’s attorney Tim Waycaster, who also attended the MDAH meeting, could not be reached for comment.

The condo project is also being held up because a lawsuit contesting the legality of the city’s sale of the land is awaiting a hearing from the Mississippi Supreme Court.