Why did the county wait years to cite The Shed?

In April, Jackson County cited The Shed Barbecue and Blues Joint for building code violations, and Sun Herald readers have asked why it took so long.

It has been four years since the popular restaurant burned and was rebuilt. The county cited the owners in April, when it appeared the rambling collection of shed-like structures wasn’t rebuilt to any code.

Jackson County didn’t wait four years, officials said this week. It gave the owners a two-year grace period to reopen using temporary food trailers. And when the owners built back improperly, it sent a certified letter, starting the process that ended in the April citation.

After the fire, the county gave owners Brad Orrison and Brooke Orrison Lewis a year to operate with a temporary structure, something moveable that could be towed. The law allows for this, Planning Director Michele Coats said.

“It’s a way to help an established business get back on it’s feet after a disaster,” Coats said.

Then the county gave them an extension, a second year, something that’s also allowed under county code.

But after the second year, in July 2014, the Jackson County code enforcement officer sent a certified letter to Orrison citing violations on the rebuilt structures.

“The two-year temporary permit allowing you to continue your business operations is currently expired. Any and all temporary structures will need to be removed ... and replaced with permanent structures,” the letter stated.

It also said The Shed is in a flood zone that requires all buildings be elevated to a minimum of 12 feet. The property on Mississippi 57 near Interstate 10 is 6 to 10 feet in elevation, which would require Orrison to elevate 4 to 6 feet.

According to Planning Department records, The Shed owners asked through an attorney for more time to come into compliance, citing an eminent domain court fight they have with the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which wants some of The Shed property in order to widen Mississippi 57.

The MDOT case has been continued five times, according to county planners. And each time the county Planning Department, with its building inspectors, has been subpoenaed to testify in the case. In an eminent domain case, the value of the structures on The Shed property could come into play.

Marcus Catchot, a county building official, said the county didn’t want to jump into the middle of the lawsuit.

“We’ve been trying to work with them on this,” he said.

Orrison told the Sun Herald on Tuesday, “We’ll figure out what it’s all about in January,” when the county is set to present its case on the building violations. He had no comment about the MDOT eminent domain case set for court this fall.

“We’re working with everybody, in every way possible, to make sure we save this national landmark,” Orrison said.

After many delays, the county decided to cite The Shed owners for the violations Orrison has officially known about since the 2014 letter.

“At some point, it had to stop,” Catchot said. “We couldn’t wait any longer. Our No. 1 priority is the life and safety of the customers of The Shed. What if a storm came through?”

Catchot has already testified in county court that The Shed likely couldn’t be brought to code and would have to be razed and rebuilt.

Soon after The Shed reopened after the 2012 fire, the Orrisons filmed a walk-through and posted it on YouTube. In it, Brad Orrison shows one food trailer the county allowed. But during the tour, the Orrisons also showed off rebuilding they had been doing. And two minutes into the tour, Brad Orrison shows a power pole out in the open that has a number of major electrical cords plugged into it.

Jokingly, he says, “... As you can tell, everything is up to code baby .... welcome to Mississippi,” and Lewis says, “Yeah, right.”

A county planning official who watched the video this week said the pole was a major code issue and would be considered a real threat to safety.

Another issue is the flood elevation. County supervisors said Monday that whenever a county allows a structure to rebuild in a flood zone without the property elevation, the whole county is in jeopardy of losing its National Flood Insurance coverage.

That’s not a joke, county officials said Monday. The federal government will pull it, they said. Jackson County has been given notice before.

This story was originally published June 21, 2016 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Why did the county wait years to cite The Shed?."