NATCHEZ — Will the beanfield be a field of dreams or a field of weeds?

Though plans for a local recreation project and the needs of the National Park Service have been discussed in recent weeks, nothing has officially come before the planning commission to begin development of the 37-acre parcel of land next to Natchez High School.

Local resident Scott Manoley, who works in the beanfield area, said that the field adjacent to Natchez High School is overgrown with ragweed and goldenrod, to which he is allergic.

“Any of those students have allergies like I do, it must really be giving them fits,” Manoley said. “The city owns the beanfield area, and they haven’t kept it up at all since they got possession. Right now it’s just a field of weeds.”

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, who is serving as mayor pro tem in Natchez Mayor Butch Brown’s absence, said she has not been presented with any concrete plans for development of the parcel.

“I know people have thought of things, but nothing has come before the board,” Arceneaux-Mathis said. “I don’t even know what people have talked about.”

Arceneaux-Mathis said she also was not sure whether city’s public works department had been instructed to mow or maintain the land, but said the state had stopped maintenance when it became city property.

Public Works Supervisor Justin Dollar did not return requests for comment last week.

The land was conveyed from the State of Mississippi to the City of Natchez in July 2015 after years of lobbying.

House Bill 787, which passed the property to city ownership, also included two other land plots near the bean field, which also must meet a certain criteria for future use.

According to the legislation, the three parcels of land — 21 acres, 37 acres (the beanfield) and 30 acres — must all be used for public recreational or educational uses that are compatible with the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Interim Natchez City Planner Riccardo Giani said the building of a casino, for example, would not be allowable recreational use.

Because the beanfield borders the Natchez Trace Parkway, St. Catherine Creek and Natchez High School, the city and National Park Service would need to work together to decide how to develop the land, former city attorney Walter Brown said at the time the property was conveyed back to the City of Natchez. The federal government owned the beanfield and surrounding lands for years because the Natchez Trace Parkway’s terminus was planned for the site. Instead it was relocated and now terminates at Liberty Road.

Arceneaux-Mathis said one of the parcels across the street from the beanfield site houses a Veterans of Foreign Wars building.

The City of Natchez and Adams County approved an interlocal recreation agreement, and Adams County Board of Supervisors President Mike Lazarus said that meant working together on all recreation projects in the area.

“Everything to do with recreation is a city and county project,” Lazarus said. “We’re working together, and we’re going to fund it together.”

In September, Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission chairman Tate Hobdy said the beanfield could be the site of a YMCA facility, which would include a public swimming pool.

Now, the YMCA is instead planning to create its facility near Liberty Ballpark, Lazarus said.

The city’s board of aldermen and the county board of supervisors are scheduled to meet jointly at 10:30 a.m. Monday in the Natchez Convention Center to discuss the upcoming YMCA project.

Three acres of the beanfield property, which used to house a French colonial settlement, were designated a historic landmark in September of last year.

National Park Service Director Kathleen Bond proposed selling part of the non-landmark property.

Bond presented an update to the board of aldermen last month on the archaeological work being done at Fort Rosalie, and listed sale of excess acreage of the beanfield as one of the service’s long-term goals to fund the project.

“I was just putting out there the known needs of (the parks),” Bond said. “Developing Fort Rosalie, establishment of a multi-park museum storage facility in the Historic Natchez Foundation building, and hopefully developing Forks of the Road.”

Bond said the Natchez Trace Parkway might also be interested in building a new access road to Emerald Mound, a Native American site located near Stanton.