The City of Vicksburg is asking the Mississippi Legislature for the authority to add standards for the design of new buildings.

The request and one from the Board of Supervisors seeking authority to contribute $2,500 for the local social-service agency Central Mississippi Prevention Services are expected to be presented to the Legislature, which convened in a special session Thursday and continued meeting today.

The city’s request is in anticipation of the city’s adopting design standards in the future, City Planner Wayne Mansfield said.

State legislation would give such a move greater legal protection, Mansfield added.

The city is asking for approval to adopt standards for improving the looks of building fronts, landscaping and lighting for mainly new construction, Mansfield said.

&#8220The review may include, but is not limited to, grading, drainage, site preparation, parking, traffic circulation, vehicular and pedestrian access, public and private improvements, building form and materials, landscaping, fences, screening and buffering,” says the bill, introduced Thursday by Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg.

Vicksburg is not the first city in the state to request such legislation, Mansfield said. Olive Branch and Madison also have standards for similar purposes. The standards Madison has adopted are more stringent, however, than those Vicksburg officials are considering, Mansfield added.

Vicksburg already has authority to enforce standards for similar purposes in its historic district, Mansfield said.

&#8220There are a lot of planning studies that show that design standards have a very positive effect on property values,” Mansfield said.

The $2,500 for CMPS would be funded through a bill introduced in the state House by Reps. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, and Chester Masterson, R-Vicksburg, and in the Senate by Chaney. It asks for the money &#8220for the purpose of enhancing its program curriculum designed to assist at-risk youth in Warren County.”

CMPS’ executive director, Joe Johnson, said the money would be used to fund scholarships for kindergarten-through-10th-graders who participate in the annual summer leadership camp.

&#8220Our summer camp is always the toughest to get the money for,” Johnson said.

This past summer’s camp taught life, leadership and other skills to children for about a month of full-day sessions on the campus of All Saints’ Episcopal School, Johnson said. Many of the participants are from families that receive food stamps and about one-third received scholarships to attend the camp, Johnson added.