JACKSON - The Mississippi Supreme Court's involvement in the fight over land to be used for a Nissan plant is good news, an attorney for the state said.
The court halted proceedings in the case in which the state is taking hundreds of acres from a landowner for the assembly plant being built in Madison County.
Justices issued the ruling Thursday, saying that the state "may be seeking to appropriate lands substantially in excess of the immediate needs for public use and for the current project."
Jackson attorney Bob Wood, who has helped the state with land acquisition for the Nissan project, said he didn't consider the order a setback because the high court has agreed to move quickly.
He said he hoped the court would rule as soon as July, settling the issue once and for all.
"It puts us in a position of knowing what we can and cannot do with the property," Wood said.
In March, Madison County Judge William Agin ordered real estate investor Tom Hixon to give his 347 acres at the Nissan site to the Mississippi Major Economic Impact Authority. Agin also ordered the issue of payment to be settled at trial.
The state took possession of the land the next day.
With Thursday's ruling, the state's high court canceled a trial scheduled for next week to determine how much Hixon is to be paid for the land until justices hear his appeal.
Peter L. Doran, one of Hixon's attorneys, said the Supreme Court will determine if the state can take all 347 acres.
"The Nissan project is a good thing," Doran said. "This is just a matter of what's necessary and what's allowed to be taken from a private citizen."
Doran said Hixon has agreed to sell some 40 acres to the state that it plans to use for a major interchange near the plant. Hixon doesn't want to give up the remainder of his property near the site, Doran said.
Doran has said the state was taking a risk by going forward with developing the land before all legal proceedings took place.
He said Thursday he wasn't sure how changes to the land would be remedied by the state if the high court rules for Hixon.
"Needless to say, the character of the property has been forever changed," Doran said. "His property as it existed no longer exists."
Wood said the state had started building the interchange on the smaller portion of Hixon's land and had begun work on a retention pond on the larger section.
"If Mr. Hixon plans to develop that property, he's going to need a retention pond anyway," Wood said.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said it would "consider this appeal in as expeditious a manner as is consistent with our judicial role."
Doran said he has until June 15 to file a brief with the court, and the state has until June 27 to respond.
Wood said all filings should be made by early July and he hoped the court would rule later that month or in early August.
Doran said the two most probable scenarios are that the high court could agree with Hixon that the case should have been dismissed by Agin, or the court could rule that Agin was correct in turning over the property to the state.
If the Supreme Court decides that Agin's ruling was correct, a trial to determine the value of the property would be rescheduled.
In March, the state gave the circuit clerk of Madison County $1.4 million to take control of Hixon's land. That amounted to about $4,000 an acre, which is what a court-appointed appraiser determined the fair market value to be.
The amount is far less than what Hixon said the property is worth. Shortly before Agin's ruling, he rejected a second offer of $10,000 an acre from the state, which began eminent domain proceedings in December.
Hixon has said he bought the property in August for $2,300 per acre on the chance that the county would buy it to expand the Canton Industrial Park.
Nissan broke ground on the $930 million plant in April and plans to begin production in 2003. Before construction could start, the state had to acquire the rights to more than 1,400 acres at the site near Canton.
In addition to its dispute with Hixon, the state is embroiled in a court battle with two families for 29 acres on the primary plant site.
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