Core samples and mystery

This past week, work crews with Burns Cooley Dennis Inc have been drilling core samples at the Washington Street Park.

The Vicksburg Daily News has made inquiries with city administrators on the project. They are being tight lipped but did share some information.

Among the information is an agreement between the city and Slaughter and Associates PLLC to perform consulting, professional and technical services to prepare an urban renewal project.

The Urban Renewal Plan discussed at a recent Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting had many elements to it including constructing condominiums in the downtown area. The Washington Street Park could very well be the location for those condominiums. The other possible location is a property near the Vicksburg Convention Center.

The first step to building any project is to check the soil for contamination, soil type and to see what is under the surface. Once the samples have been processed, the next step is to determine what kind of structure the location can hold.

When asked by the Vicksburg Daily News what was going on at the Washington Street Park, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. was reticent at first to offer any information. But then he offered a few intriguing tidbits.

“It could potentially be a really big, really big deal,” he said. “I don’t want to say anything about it.”

He did offer to provide the agreement with Slaughter and Associates.

The Washington Street Park is owned by the City of Vicksburg, and any private project on that property would have to go through a slew of red tape including ensuring that the city’s tax payers see a return on investment from the work done there to date.

The Vicksburg Daily News will stay with this story and provide more details as they become available.