Posted: Aug 07, 2013 2:50 PM CST Updated: Aug 30, 2013 5:07 PM CST
By Cheryl Lasseter
HINDS COUNTY, MS (Mississippi News Now) – A Florida-based company that manufactures drones wants to expand to Hinds County, but only if the Byram-Clinton corridor is built.
Vercell Vance talked to the Hinds County Board of Supervisors at this week’s meeting. He owns Alpha-Data Corporation in Fort Walton Beach. The high-tech company designs unmanned aircraft.
Vance bought 1,000 acres near the proposed Byram-Clinton corridor in 2005, planning to launch the research and development sector of his company there. He sold 500 acres of the land to the county so they could build the parkway. He’s urging supervisors Stokes and Hunter and Board President Robert Graham to stop resisting the project.
“I knew their intention of building the corridor. That was speculation on my part, but that’s the reason I purchased the property,” he says. “That corridor is critical to development of Byram and Hinds County, in my opinion.”
Federal money will finance some of the corridor. Supervisors against the project argue that the county can’t round up enough cash to finish the 18-mile stretch of roadway.
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Source: http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/23075039/drone-manufacturer-waiting-on-byram-clinton-corridor