Aldermen delay vote on veto for 2nd time

The Jackson Board of Aldermen on Monday put off for the second time a vote on whether to overrule former Mayor Paul Sander's veto of a street abandonment.

The board previously had pushed the issue from early March to Monday, which kept the issue alive as a factor in the race to replace Sander. On Monday, the winner of that election, Barbara Lohr, cast the deciding vote to postpone the decision again.

At the root of the issue is whether the city will abandon a street corridor that would connect an existing subdivision with a development called Nine Oaks. The corridor, Shawn Drive, has grown from a concern to adjacent landowners to one enveloping the aldermen in a debate over how strictly to follow requirements that subdivision developers build interior connecting streets and whether planned streets should or should not be built.

In the 4-3 vote, Lohr joined Mark Dambach, Dale Rauh and Joe Bob Baker to put off the veto override. David Reiminger, Larry Cunningham and David Hitt voted against the postponement. Two members, Curtis Poore and Phil Penzel, did not attend Monday's meeting.

With only six of the eight members on hand, a unanimous vote would have been required to override Sander's veto. Cunningham and Reiminger have opposed the abandonment since the first vote in February. Hitt, who joined the board after the April election, said he wanted the matter finished but added that his vote to take action Monday wasn't an indication that he supported or opposed the veto.

"This is an issue that should have been finalized by the previous council," Hitt said before the vote.

The Nine Oaks subdivision is being developed by Ron Clark, a supporter of Lohr's bid for mayor. During the campaign, supporters of Reiminger, who opposed Lohr, raised questions about her ethics in supporting the move, saying it could save money for Clark in his development.

After Monday's vote, Lohr said the development plans for Nine Oaks are in flux. Clark won unanimous approval Monday to change several lots to denser development, while the board tabled a special use permit for a baseball park to be used by Jackson High School and other teen-level teams. There's time to see how the development works out, Lohr said.

"As long as we have some new members, it is wise to let it rest until we know a little more about what is going to happen out there," she said.

But Cunningham said the issue needs to be settled. "This been a source of dissension among this board and the old board, and it is time to put that dog to rest," he said.

In other action, the board held four public hearings on zoning issues -- the two related to Clark's Nine Oaks development and two on zoning rules.

The hearing on the proposed "commercial overlay district" rules, designed to control development along the East Main Street extension but applicable in any designated district in Jackson if the board chooses, brought the most comment.

John Lichtenegger, a Jackson attorney and landowner along East Main Street, said he has restrictive covenants included with his deeds. But the staff proposals approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission go too far in restricting items such as signs and building materials, he said.

"I am for a lot of this, and I have some serious questions about a number of the items," Lichtenegger said.

The limitations on entrances from city streets would be restrictive for small businesses, he said.

"The important thing is to provide a beautiful entrance to the city without being too restrictive," Lichtenegger said.

Another speaker, Tim Goodman, said the restrictions on signs -- a sign could be a maximum of 6 feet tall for an individual business, and signs on the outside of stores would be limited -- could keep large retailers from considering a Jackson location.

Without changes, Goodman said, "we'd be looking across the interstate and seeing a lot of things on the Cape side and not much on our side."

The board did not vote on the overlay rules.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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