The cities of Jackson, Flowood and Pearl have ended an eight-year-long legal battle over rights to land on and surrounding the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in a deal that sees each city walk away with new additions to their respective cities.
The terms of the deal allow each of the three cities to incorporate portions of the airport’s land, develop it and reap the increased tax revenue. Jackson, meanwhile, maintains ownership of the land and the airport, though other legal conflicts over the airport are continuing.
“This agreement unlocks long-underused land for economic development while protecting Jackson’s ownership of our airport,” said Jackson Mayor John Horhn in a June 9 press release. “Jackson will benefit from tax revenue on developments built on the land the City is incorporating and it will benefit from direct payments from the developers on every piece of property that is developed.”…