I have a bunch of information to post. Before getting into details that I couldn't fit into the space in the paper, here's a quick summary of the issue at hand:

On Monday, Cape Girardeau City Council has a public hearing scheduled for Christ Church of the Heartland's special-use permit request.

While the hearing is formally scheduled for 7 p.m., much of the background on this will happen at the study session, which is at 5 p.m. The study session is not televised, and is a less-formal, less-scripted information session than the meeting itself. If anyone is interested in understanding the finer points of municipal decision-making, this should provide a good example. Here's a quick breakdown of this one item on an agenda that has more than two dozen entries.

Main issue: Whether a Cape Girardeau church may have a special-use permit to sell low-cost groceries from its 720 Bertling St. address, which is in a residential zone.

The sides:

* The church: Christ Church of the Heartland is a regional distributor for the food, a ministry that dates back four years.

* The neighbors: Their complaints about retail-style grocery sales are part of an ongoing feud over traffic and noise at the church.

* The planning and zoning commission: On Oct. 10, the board unanimously denied the church's special-use permit request to continue selling groceries, while praising the food program and suggesting it be moved to a commercial zone.

* The city council and mayor: Have the option of overriding planning and zoning's recommendation. The church has received an offer of representation by a Texas law firm if that does not happen.

One statement that's often mentioned is that no church making Angel Food Ministries sales has faced a zoning issue. This is not so. The city is currently researching more than 350 Angel Food distribution sites in Missouri to find any cases.

Here is a fact:

The borough of Howard, Penn., faced this same issue in 2006, after the Howard Christian Church became an Angel Food Ministries distributor. The program drew hundreds of people from up to 20 miles away, according to Howard code zoning officer Dan Brownson, creating a traffic hazard and drawing complaints from some of its 700 residents.

Because the church "is in an area zoned residential," Brownson said, borough officials gave a "variance for conditional use."

He said the church "acknowledged that it actually was retail because they receive a dollar from every deal they sold."

The borough gave the church a permit. End of that story, no threat of a lawsuit.

Since no one I've interviewed regarding the operation at 720 Bertling St. has a problem with feeding the poor or hungry, what is going on here in Cape Girardeau?

Several of the neighbors living on streets around Christ Church of the Heartland are clearly unhappy about the ongoing lack of communication by the church as well as its ambitious expansion project. (More about what you can and can't do on your own property in a future blog.)

In 2006, the church began construction on a parking lot and building addition to provide room for 2,000. (Basically, the building will be twice the size of Osage Community Centre.) Last month, the Revs. Zack and Diane Strong walked me through the partially finished addition, which features a series of classrooms, a large theater-style worship space for young people, a game room, restrooms and a kitchen area.

The construction noise, dust, traffic and drainage problems upset neighbors. When neighbors learned the church wanted to start a day care center -- about the time I came to town -- they protested. Rev. Strong appeared at a meeting and withdrew his request for a special use permit.

Neighbors complained about traffic problems with the hundreds of orders being picked up during the Angel Food distribution day and the city once again got involved. The planning and zoning commission unanimously denied the church's request for a special-use permit to continue selling the groceries, based on a single word: retail. A retail operation belongs in a commercial zone. But the church is in an area zoned for residential. (An aside: Cape has four levels of residential zoning: R-4 is for multifamily areas, such as apartments; R-3 is for two-family homes; R-2 and R-1 are for single family homes. The church is in an R-1 zone.)

Basically the commissioners said Angel Food is a great program, but the church needs to do it in a commercial zone. Rev. Strong told me he has since had several offers for alternate sites, but "that's not the issue." He says his church spearheads the program and provides the volunteers, so it's staying at 720 Bertling St.

Readers have posted questions on previous related stories asking why the city doesn't simply let the church do what it wants, despite the zoning.

Ken Eftink, the city's development services director, tells me the whole point of zoning a community, is "to have a planned and orderly use of the land."

With each question on special-use permits, city officials must decide "if the use is compatible and allowed in the zoning ordinance," Eftink said. If it is compatible, it would mean no special-use permit would be required.

If it is not a compatible use, the city has the right to decide what makes the most sense for the larger community -- which could include a decision ranging from giving a special-use permit with specific conditions to barring the activity or use altogether. This, again, is where attending city meetings is valuable -- these decisions which affect you so directly never make it to a ballot. But, during a public hearing, which is required, you get to voice an opinion.

Every special-use permit request is reviewed by the planning and zoning board; each one gets a public hearing. If a request is rejected by the board, it is referred to city council's next meeting. At that point, the land owner can ask for the council to hold a public hearing. A special-use permit requires approval by city council. Two public hearings are held, at the first reading and at the councils second and third readings of an ordinace approving a special-use permit.

Another part of the city's purpose in having planning and zoning, in addition to orderly land use, is that it sets expectations. A pamphlet from the National Trust puts it this way:

"A local comprehensive land-use plan is a road map for a community's future growth, development and, ideally, its preservation. The plan explains the community's overall policies and sets forth a positive vision for how the community should grow. It explains where new homes, businesses, roads, and other community elements should go -- and equally important -- not go."

What makes the city council's decision Monday particularly challenging is that the firm representing Angel Food Ministries has now offered to represent Christ Church of the Heartland if the city doesn't agree to let the food sale continue. (Details about that in another blog -- I'm hoping to scan some documents so you can read for yourself.)

Let's talk about the food for a minute.

What exactly does a buyer get for $25?

This month's menu lists its $25 menu as four pounds of chicken leg quarters; four 8-ounce hamburger patties; a frozen turkey dinner; a 1-pound chicken breast; a pound each of sausage, corn dogs, ground turkey pinto beans, rice, vegetables; a frozen Stroganoff dinner; two pounds of french fries; a box of blueberry muffin mix; a dessert; and two pounds of onions.

For an additional $18, customers can add four pounds of steak or five ConAgra-brand Golden Cuisine meals. While the program is referred to as "grocery relief," anyone can buy as many boxes filled with these groceries as they like. The program has is open to people of all incomes. (The fact that it is not specifically geared toward the needy is why some people find it difficult to see this program as a charity.)

In addition to the above box of food, people can purchase additional food packages, such as 4-pounds of frozen streak (choices include rib-eye, T-bone and Porterhouse) or a five complete frozen meals. Either of those packages cost $18 each. Again, no limit on which kind or how many packages one buys.

On the up side, the prices seem kind to the wallet. With wholesale prices -- meaning the more units purchased, the lower the price is -- and no overhead, such as daily costs of a store, freezers, heat, electric lights or employees, the costs are naturally low.

Can there be a downside? Well, it depends. While some of the people who made the 900 orders for food through Rev. Strong's church are indeed low-income folks, not all are. In either case, if 900 households stopped shopping at, say Schnuck's or Walmart, and bought the majority of their groceries from Angel Food, what economic impact would that make to the local economy? In a community of more than 35,000 people, perhaps not much. (A question for an economist, yes?)

On the other hand, Angel Food Ministries is growing. Missouri alone has more than 350 distribution points. Of the $25 dollars spent of the main box of groceries, $24 is sent to Angel Food Ministries in Georgia.

None of the money goes to local paychecks or local taxes. (Given Angel Food Ministries certification by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a not-for-profit, no taxes are supposed to be paid on the groceries. The organization is, however, responsible for payroll taxes for its employees at headquarters, and for filing an annual IRS Form 900)

I asked Schnucks' manager Dennis Marchi, what he thought of Christ Church of the Heartland's Angel Food Ministries program.

"I know some of the parishioners, They've shopped here ... not a lot of them," said Marchi, a grocer for 38 years. Asked about the impact Angel Food Ministries sales could have on his store, he shies away.

"I don't even want to go there," he said, adding that there's "no win" in commenting.

"I'm leaving it up to city council. We just leave it up to them," he said.

Calls placed to WalMart's media relations office, Emmanuel Praise Church, in Monroe, Ga., -- the church that founded Angel Food Ministries in 1994 -- and to Angel Food Ministries headquarters, were not returned.

So, that's a little more background on Sunday's story about Christ Church of the Heartland's special-use permit. More later.

I look forward to reading your comments and questions and expect civility to prevail.