Contrary to reports from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality that claim the Village Fair Mall site is contaminated, an environmental remediation company as well as a concerned citizen with knowledge of the area say the site is suitable for possible use by the county.

The Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors is considering the old Village Fair Mall site on 22nd Avenue as a possible option to replace the county courthouse, which was built in 1905. Supervisors for months have discussed renovating the existing structure and relocating to other sites, including the old Sears building site, the federal courthouse, which is now the post office, the Peavey property, the Courthouse Annex across the street from the current courthouse, and the former Kate Griffin Middle School.

In documents presented to supervisors by Raymond Huffmaster at the Nov. 21 meeting, the DEQ indicated in a July 18, 2016 report that results of a May 2016 groundwater sampling and date collected showed it “appears as if additional operation of the remediation system will be required to remove all vapors and to reduce concentration (of components found in petroleum products) in soil and groundwater.”

A Firestone store was among the tenants at the Village Fair Mall.

Documents provided by Huffmaster showed the DEQ notified Firestone store owner Debra Hamlin as far back as May 2012 that soil and groundwater contamination existed in the underground storage tanks.

Rick Crawford, senior environmental engineer for AMEC Foster Wheeler Environmental Infrastructure Inc., said the confusion is about two different sites.

“The issue is with the old underground fuel tanks associated with the former Firestone property, across from the Wendy’s. That is the property that is being evaluated,” Crawford said. “It has been identified that the storage tanks have been closed for several years and had leaked. Firestone is in the process of cleaning up and removing the tanks, which were there since the 1980s.

“The area where the leak exists is around the old fuel canopy and does not extend beyond the former Goodyear property and does not impact the mall,” Crawford added.

Crawford quoted from the company’s first assessment report after remediation from May 2016.

Jim McRae, founder and president of the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum, also spoke in favor of the site during Monday’s supervisors’ meeting.

“That whole site is not polluted. I’m working with everyone trying to get our downtown improved. We need to start down there on 22nd Avenue because that is a gateway to Meridian,” McRae said. “it’s never been a garbage dump and I can testify back to the 1940s. I was going to the Alabama-Mississippi State Fair on that site. The fair was there and a shopping center was built in the 196s. The site has proven it is satisfactory for building. The garbage dump was located down at 29th Avenue and 8th Avenue, but not on this site.”

McRae said he would like to see some type of development on the site.

“If the courthouse doesn’t locate there, we don’t want to taint the site. A developer could find something else to showcase our city,” McRae said.

Board of Supervisors President Joe Norwood said the body doesn’t intend to make any hasty decisions. He did not receive a copy of Huffmaster’s report.

“We are having our own studies done. Before the Board makes any decision, we’re going to be 100 percent sure there are no environmental issues at the site despite what some people have to say about it,” Norwood said.