Photo: Mayor Chip Johnson speaks to the Hernando Main Street Chamber of Commerce Awards gala event on Thursday, Nov. 21. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Nov 24, 2024- Hernando Mayor Chip Johnson says a lot of people are visiting his city. They’re coming to check the city out and see what is making Hernando grow at the levels the city is seeing.
Speaking to the Hernando Main Street Chamber of Commerce Awards gala Thursday night, Johnson pointed to statistics enumerating the growth.
“We’ve issued 42 new home permits since Oct. 1,” Johnson said. “That’s a lot, that’s a bunch of houses. Since Jan. 1, the city has issued 113 new residential home permits and 12 new commercial buildings.”
The mayor also quoted values for median income and media home value increases in the past 13-15 years.
“The median household income for Hernando in 2010 was $61,000, and in 2023 it was $69,000,” Johnson said. “The median home value in 2010 was $184,300, but in 2023, it was $268,900. That’s a 45.9 percent increase in 13 years for median home values.”
The population has also grown to an estimated 18,239 two years ago, although Johnson said, “Based on water meters and things we know, we think that’s closer to 20,000, but we’ll go with what the Census says. That’s a 6.4 percent increase in three years, which is the highest in DeSoto County. We’re the fastest growing city in DeSoto County.”
But the people coming to Hernando Johnson specifically mentioned are coming from other Mississippi communities trying to learn the “secret sauce” that Hernando has for growth.
“We are very, very fortunate,” the mayor said. “A lot of towns look at us and come see what we are doing. It happens all of the time. They see that we’re doing something right because we’re growing.”
One item Hernando city officials would prefer visitors not see when they come is the Commerce Street exit of I-55. The mayor said having the interchange addressed remains a high priority.
“Everybody in Jackson knows when we’re coming that’s what we’re talking about,” Johnson said. “We are the only town in DeSoto County that has the original exit from when the interstate was built, so it’s our turn.”
With that, the mayor proceeded to outline several items and projects that are planned or underway, beginning with the new high school campus as a major economic development driver for the city.
With that, along with the Swinnea Road extension and the Delta Landing project under construction, traffic along the stretch of McIngvale Road is going to increase and traffic studies are underway now to put a number to that increase.
“They’re counting traffic, but they also have a formula that will take into account all of the traffic coming from Delta Landing and from the new high school,” Johnson explained. “Waggoner Engineering will come back to the county and to us for what to do there, and whatever it is, it’s going to take a while to build.”
Meanwhile, the city, county, and school district are partnering to have a temporary traffic signal erected at McIngvale and Pleasant Hill before the new school opens. An overlay project on McIngvale Road worth about $4.6 million is set to be done before the start of the next school year.
“It’s funded with MPO money, your local tax dollars, and DeSoto County School has provided $700,000-$800,000 for it,” Johnson said.
Hernando is using Outdoor Stewardship Trust Fund project money to fund an 18-hole disc golf course, a pavilion and three-and-a-half acre natural wildflower garden trails. That’s being paired with money from a bond issue for baseball, softball and T-ball diamonds, a concession stand, and roads to both. The entire project is worth about $8.6 million.
“We’re also getting sponsorships to name our fields, our parks, our trails, just all kinds of sponsorships,” Johnson said. “That money will be used for the maintenance of our parks as we go along.”
Sewer projects being addressed are in the areas of Green T road and in Dogwood Hollow. Another roundabout is under construction to improve traffic safety along McIngvale and Holly Springs Road.
The mayor also talked about the Delta Landing development, the additions of new hotels and the rebuilding of the Hampton Inn, which was damaged earlier in the year by a fire, paving projects, and pleased to announce that the city will soon have a new ambulance in service.
“In the early spring you’re going to see three full-time ambulances here in the city,” Johnson said.
