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Engineers Want Lower Lake Plan on Table

An engineer urged the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board last week to press the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to approve a lake plan to coincide with a Corps-preferred levee expansion the board approved in December.

Levee Board Rescinds 2007 Flood Control Approval

The Rankin-Hinds Pearl Flood and Drainage Control District voted to rescind its 2007 approval for a locally preferred flood control plan yesterday, and then voted unanimously to ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to look at all flood control plans available to the Hinds/Rankin area.javascript:void(0);

Taxpayers Deserve to See Pearl Study

In 2003, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District agreed to begin a three-year feasibility study to update the cost of a 1996 levee plan originally endorsed by the Corps, and analyze a plan to flood the Pearl River between Hinds and Rankin counties.

'One Lake' Project Could Go to Public for Comment Next Month

Engineers are pumping water at both Pearl River stations after a weekend of storms. The river reached a crest of 21 feet this weekend but is projected to drop down to lower levels later this week.

PEER Questions Funding

The Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review is warning against the likelihood of the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board funding a lake or similar impoundment for flood control in the Pearl River.

No. 11, November 30 - December 6

<b><em>Toward a Consensus on Two Lakes?</b></em>

The dream of a publicly accessible lake running through Metro Jackson, providing flood control and stimulating community development, will move closer to reality in coming weeks. The prospect of the LeFleur Lakes project becoming a reality has never been greater.

Levee Board Votes for Levees

The controversial "Two Lakes" saga ended Monday when the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District voted to move ahead with a levees-only flood-control plan endorsed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

McGowan Questions Levee Board's ‘Backbone'

Would-be Two Lakes developer John McGowan reacted strongly this week to a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers statement that it was not taking seriously his or any other plan to create lakes around the Pearl River, preferring a comprehensive levees plan to control flooding.

Chamber Gives $200K for Lake Project

Pearl River Vision Foundation, which is working with local officials to work up a plan to reduce flooding along the Pearl River, received $200,000 from the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership this afternoon.

35 Years After Flood, River Still Menaces Jackson

Pearl River's waters flooded parts of Jackson and surrounding areas in 1979 in a deluge that paralyzed the city and led to the evacuation of 15,000 people. Now, 35 years later, the river is making a return visit.

Mother Nature: First, Do No Harm

"Y'all are just against economic development." That ribbing came from a Levee Board member who shall remain anonymous due to drinks on the table (a pretty good rule for journalists, by the way).

Second Best Ideas

I vividly remember the day when Ward 1 City Councilman Ben Allen bounded into my office at the Jackson Free Press. During the Frank Melton mayoral administration, it wasn't unusual for Allen to pop by; we didn't agree on everything and fought like banshees on the Internet from time to time, but we were on the same page when it came to some of the crazy coming out of city hall. We found common ground on the need for Jackson, and particularly downtown, to get its groove back.

LeFleur Lakes DOA?

LeFleur Lakes developer John McGowan insists that his project to flood the Pearl River basin between Jackson and Flowood to create lakefront property for downtown Jackson is dead in the water if the city continues to support the construction of the Airport Parkway Project.

Judge Orders Mississippi City to Allow Mosque Construction

A new federal court order says a Mississippi city must allow construction of a mosque, two months after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a discrimination lawsuit against the city on behalf of two Muslim men who want to develop the place of worship.

Muscle Meets Bivalve

John McGowan and McGowan Working Partners laud the city of Jackson's economic benefit of the Two Lakes plan, a proposed project that would dam the Pearl River and create a series of islands between Hinds and Rankin counties.

OPINION: One Lake—‘One Sewage Lagoon’?

It is interesting how quiet the proponents of the "One Lake" plan have been over the last couple of months. Maybe it is because in September 2018, U.S. Congressman Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, added language to the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 to stall the progress of the One Lake project.

Coalition Forms Against ‘One Lake’ Proposal

Several wildlife and environmental groups came together to form a coalition against the proposed "One Lake" flood-control/development project on the Pearl River a few weeks before the report detailing the proposal is published.

Jackson Lake Plans and Eminent Domain

Jackson Realtor Bob Ridgway is president of a 100-year-old exclusive hunting and fishing spot about a half mile from where County Line Road dead ends at Old Canton Road. Mule Jail Club has an eight-person membership that goes back to the 1880s, and a number of small cabins sit on pylons either within the water or on ground that is partially or totally submerged during a portion of the year. Biologists describe the territory as some of the most pristine wetland between Hinds and Rankin counties. Nevertheless, Mule Jail could lose a considerable portion of itself to lake water, just as it sacrificed a portion of itself to the making of the Ross Barnett Reservoir.

One Lake Project One Step Closer to Public Input

The 2007 map of the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District includes just a sliver of Jackson, predominantly along the Pearl as well as a piece of downtown, including the Mississippi Coliseum.

Monticello Mayor Speaks Out Against ‘Two Lake'

In response to The Clarion-Ledger's huge package of stories last weekend overwhelmingly in favor of the LeFleur Lakes development plan (including an odd pro-pro pair of columns), Monticello Mayor Dave Nichols II wrote the paper in protest, bringing up a vital point too little discussed by the developers:

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