Provide input on Downtown Cape plan

Your input is requested to improve Cape Girardeau's downtown. Downtown Cape Girardeau is on tap for an update to a plan created in 2009. The new process began with an open house on Nov. 1, where residents shared their ideas for improvement. Now a short survey on Old Town Cape's website will allow people to make suggestions.

Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape, said the survey, another public meeting tentatively scheduled for December and a plan to be finalized by February will pave the way for the city council to adopt the proposal by March.

The area includes the Fountain Street corridor, the Good Hope neighborhood, the Common Pleas Courthouse and the "courthouse village" to the west of Lorimier Street, Main Street, Broadway, the North Main Street and South Main Street corridors and the Marquette Tech area.

The open house yielded a plethora of suggestions, with some people highlighting lodging, sidewalk upgrades and added events as areas to improve. Do you have something to add that would make downtown even more attractive? Use the survey to state your case.

"Streetscapes will be addressed, but the focus is more on 'land-use redevelopment' and what can be done to attract more private development," Russ Volmert of Arcturis Inc. said. Arcturis is the consulting firm hired to develop the new plan.

It's not every day that you get asked for your input, so submit your ideas, and they will be considered. There's only one specified definite "no." According to what Volmert told the Southeast Missourian's Mark Bliss, "It is important for the plan to focus on retaining the downtown's architectural heritage." Elaborating, he said, "The historic architecture of downtown Cape Girardeau is part of its identity."

Still, this leaves endless possibilities for improvement, so jump into the discussion via the survey; your idea may become reality.

For more information, visit www.oldtowncape.org/Strategic%20Plan.aspx.