NATCHEZ — The beanfield property owned by the city may soon become a cornfield.

The Natchez Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday to lease the property to the local farmer who worked the property before the city acquired it.

Ward 5 Alderman Mark Fortenbery made the motion to pursue a contract with farmer Ross McGehee in order to save money on upkeep of the beanfield and surrounding parcels.

“We can’t afford to cut it every two weeks,” Fortenbery said.

The land was conveyed from the federal government to the State of Mississippi, then to the City of Natchez in July 2015 after years of lobbying.

The land was once intended for the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace. The Trace terminus instead bypasses the field and ends at Liberty Road.

Because the National Park Service does not buy or sell land, getting the property back into the state’s possession —with the intention of giving it back to the city — required an act of Congress, which happened in 2013.

House Bill 787, which passed the property to city ownership, also included two other land plots near the beanfield, which also must meet a certain criteria for future use.

The legislation requires the three parcels of land — 21 acres, 37 acres (the beanfield) and 30 acres — must all be used for public recreational or educational uses that are compatible with the nearby Natchez Trace Parkway.

Ideas for how to develop the land as a recreational facility have been discussed, but have never come before the Board of Aldermen for a vote.

Public Works supervisor Justin Dollar said the 37-acre beanfield site and surrounding parcels were mowed for the first time this month since the city acquired the land from the State of Mississippi in July 2015.

Dollar’s department mowed the land after the board directed him to do so in its Feb. 9 meeting. He said it cost the city about $1,500 and took his department 28 hours.

The land had very tall grass that exceeded the city’s 12-inch code requirement, Dollar said at the meeting, which made the project take far longer.

After the meeting, he said future mowing might not be quite as expensive.

“(The cost of cutting the grass) would go down a little bit,” Dollar said. “But it would not go drastically down. Rather than city having to cut it and consistently keep it cut, it can be used as farmland in the meantime, which saves the city money as far as maintenance and upkeep of the property.”

Fortenbery moved to lease the land to McGehee at a rate of only $10 a year in exchange for consistent maintenance of the land.

McGehee used to work about 44 acres of the expansive field next to Natchez High School, where he planted soybeans and corn. He said his agreement with the National Park Service, who used to own the land, ended when the state acquired the parcel.

“Really it’s almost a nuisance to farm it,” McGehee said of the property. “You can’t do a whole lot. But we drive past it going to the other farm, so we can and drop in and plant something simple like corn and we’ll be fine. I just hate to see the son of a gun growing up in weeds, it’s just awful.”

Though the land is available cheaply, drawbacks to farming on city property exist, McGehee said.

“The city is liable to put a recreation site in there before too long, and we’ll be out of it,” McGehee said. He also farms the 130 acres surrounding Belwood Country Club. “They can snatch that out from under me in a minute, but it’ll be all right.”

Fortenbery asked City Attorney Hyde Carby to create an annual lease, as opposed to one that allows the city to begin developing the land on short notice.

“I’m not going to ask anyone saving taxpayers money to be thrown out before he gets the crops in,” Fortenbery said. “I want a year-to-year lease, even if it is just $10. We’re not in that business.”

All board members voted in favor of leasing the property except for Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, who abstained.

Arceneaux-Mathis said she did not necessarily oppose the idea of allowing agriculture on the land, but said she would prefer to discuss ideas for development before leasing it to the farmer.

“I wanted to hear possible ways that area could be developed before we tied it up completely,” Arceneaux-Mathis said. “Hopefully in the next 10 years we’re going to develop that property into something beneficial for the City of Natchez and people who live here.”

Arceneaux-Mathis was also unsure if the property should be leased without offering it publicly to all interested parties.

Carby said the agreement would come back before the board before the lease is finalized.