And

NITA MCCANN

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ &8212; Archives and History&8217;s Board of Trustees members are going to &8220;eyeball the situation from the ground,&8221; Mayor Phillip West said recently after privately meeting with Archives and History last week concerning the fate of the Natchez Pecan Shelling Co. facility.

West said he met with officials from Archives and History, including Board of Trustees president, former Gov. William Winter. During that meeting they agreed to visit the site before deciding the fate of the 1940s warehouse, West said.

&8220;I had contacted the Attorney General&8217;s office to set up a meeting,&8221; Phillip West said. &8220;I knew that the law wasn&8217;t meant to be used as a vehicle to undermine what an autonomous entity like the city wanted to do in its own town.&8221;

Currently, the building is being reviewed by Archives and History to determine if it should have landmark status under the state&8217;s Antiquities Law. If it does qualify for landmark status, Archives and History can review plans for any development on the site.

West and the Board of Alderman want to raze the site to make way for a proposed condominium development.

&8220;The biggest thing that resulted (from Thursday&8217;s meeting) was that Archives and History representatives will go down to Natchez for a site visit,&8221; Ken P&8217;Pool, director of preservation at Archives and History, said Monday afternoon. &8220;We don&8217;t know when that will be. Most of our staff are busy down on the Coast after Hurricane Katrina, so it&8217;s impossible to say when we&8217;ll schedule that &8230; and our meeting schedule has changed as well.&8221;

&8220;We received a commitment from Gov. Winter that (Archives and History) is going to make a decision that will be in the best interest of the community,&8221; West said. &8220;They said they do not want to impede on what we want to accomplish.&8221;

P&8217;Pool agreed. &8220;Some of the people that are on our board, such as (board president) Winter, have probably never looked very closely at that building,&8221; he said. &8220;And any time you can actually take a look at it, it gives you a better idea of what the situation is.&8221;

&8220;We want to try to work together (with the city) on this. Archives and History always likes to find win-win situations,&8221; P&8217;Pool said.