[5/13/03]The owners of the former Battlefield Village mall building have been found guilty by a Warren County judge of violating city building codes by not having a working sprinkler system in the vacant structure.

Warren County Court Judge Johnny Price signed the order Monday ruling J&V Properties of Jackson and Jimmy Coggins, owners, guilty of five counts of violating the National Fire Protection Association codes, which are part of city law. Coggins was also ordered to appear Thursday for sentencing.

During a previous hearing in Vicksburg Community Court in December, Judge Mack Varner had fined the owners $5,000 for five counts of violating the city’s fire codes and ordered the owner to post a 24-hour fire-watch on the property or face a $200-a-day fine.

There has reportedly been no fire-watch at the property since, and the order was appealed to county court while separate legal proceedings were continuing in Warren County Circuit Court. The city’s attorneys were seeking legal authority to demolish the vacant building in that case, and Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick ruled last week that the city’s order to take down the 42-year-old structure was proper. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted Friday to begin advertising for bids for demolition.

Mayor Laurence Leyens said the city plans to aggressively seek removal of the building.

“When we talk about public safety, it shouldn’t be ignored,” Leyens said.

Both rulings could be appealed to a higher court, which would further delay action on the property.

The North Frontage Road property, visible from Interstate 20, has been a target of two city administrations since the last major tenants, the Corps of Engineers, moved out six years ago. In November 2001, the city building inspection department ordered the structure torn down, but a 180-day stay was issued at the request of the owners.

Last summer, when that stay expired, the owners asked for more time. That request was denied and appealed to the city board, which upheld the demolition order.

The property has been deemed “unsafe or unfit for human occupancy” by the city’s building inspection department, which cited problems associated with the structure, including a lack of water to the building’s fire sprinkler system, damage to the roof and vegetation on the outside.

Battlefield was among the first and one of the largest malls in Mississippi when built. Its major stores such as McRae’s, Sears, Kroger and Walgreen’s were joined by smaller specialty shops and a restaurant. It emptied quickly after Pemberton Square mall opened in 1985.

The building was then converted into office space for federal employees moved from the condemned Walnut Towers building near City Hall. It has been mostly vacant since the Vicksburg District moved to new offices on East Clay Street in 1996.

For some of the time since, the owners were in negotiations with the General Services Administration over lease provisions requiring the federal government to pay to return the structure to a configuration for retail use.