NATCHEZ &045; By not conforming to its own rules, the City of Natchez is setting a dangerous precedent, a former city planner said.

Demolishing the old Natchez Pecan Shelling Co. without proper permit, selling the land without following state and local law and approving a development design that does not meet preservation guidelines will have an impact on city governing boards and their ability to carry out their purposes.

&uot;If the city doesn’t follow its own laws, how can it expect its citizens to do so?&uot; said David Preziosi, a former Natchez city planner who now is executive director of Mississippi Heritage Trust in Jackson.

&uot;Members of the preservation commission, planning commission and zoning board will get more challenges to the ordinances,&uot; Preziosi said. &uot;Those are the ones who will feel the impact of this.&uot;

At a Sept. 26 meeting, Natchez aldermen voted unanimously to amend the preservation ordinance so that appeals of commission decisions go to the board of aldermen, not to circuit court.

Their actions followed questions by the preservation commission on design appropriateness of condominiums proposed for the old pecan factory site.

Developers Ed Worley and Larry Brown have an option on the city-owned river bluff property on the north end of Broadway Street to build a $19.5-million complex.

Because the property is a part of the local review district as defined in the city preservation ordinance, the preservation commission is charged with approving, first, that a building on the property may be razed, and, second, the design of the building that will replace it.

Once the preservation commission approves both demolition and design, the proposal goes to the planning commission, Preziosi said. &uot;They would look at issues such as where the building is on the site, the proposed parking and the setback.&uot;

The publicly owned bluff property received Mississippi Landmark status 15 years ago. However, that was before December 1995, when the Krouse family donated the pecan factory site to the city.

Now that the site is owned by the city, the Antiquities Law requires that the Department of Archives and History conduct a review to determine whether the site or the building on it merits landmark status before the land can be sold and before a building can be demolished.

City officials have requested that Archives and History begin the process, but the committee that has oversight has not met since receiving the request.

Ken P’Pool, Archives and History preservation director deferred to the state attorney general’s office when asked to comment on the statement made by Natchez Mayor Phillip West on Friday that the pecan factory would be demolished &uot;with or without the support of Archives and History.&uot;

Efforts to speak to the assistant attorney general handling the Archives and History position were not successful Monday.

At the Sept. 19 preservation commission meeting called to hear more about the Worley-Brown design proposal, P’Pool spoke to commissioners, saying Natchez has received hundreds of thousands of dollars as a result of its designation as a certified local government.

In order to become a certified local government, Natchez adopted a preservation ordinance, appointed a preservation commission and pledged to work with Archives and History to protect its historic resources.

Mimi Miller, preservation director for the Historic Natchez Foundation, said through the certified local government program, Archives and History passes through to local governments a certain percentage of its federal funds.

&uot;It’s not a lot of money, maybe an average of $10,000 a year, but that’s not what is at issue,&uot; Miller said. &uot;Archives uses the certified local government as criteria for making other grants, and we’ve received more than a million dollars during the last five years.&uot;

Those grants include $400,000 for the federal courthouse, $200,000 for Forks of the Road, $200,000 for Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, $150,000 for the old post office on Main Street, $100,000 for the former Sadie V. Thompson School for the Boys & Girls Club, $160,000 for the Institute Building (home of the Historic Natchez Foundation) and $150,000 for the Preservation Society of Ellicott Hill.

Preziosi said the National Trust for Historic Preservation is &uot;very concerned. They’ve been made aware of the situation and are preparing a response to send to the city.&uot;

Preziosi said he understands the feeling of urgency city officials must have.

&uot;I know there’s a lot of pressure to get the development going, but everyone needs to look further down the road. Once it’s up, it’s up. This could really end up changing the character of the town.&uot;