Blanket rezoning plan awaits Jackson board action

Jackson aldermen soon will soon decide what kind of zones will line West Jackson Boulevard.

The word zone is defined differently by various people.

To science fiction writers, the Twilight Zone is a masterful, mysterious place where rules of science and society don't apply.

To a football player, it's the place of six points.

To other athletes, it's a psychological auto-pilot, a mind-state where the action slows down, when a 3-point shot feels like a free throw.

In city government, a zone is the future. It can be used as a noun or verb; it can make or lose people money; it can ruin people's privacy, make a place unsafe or even create hundreds of jobs.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen soon will soon decide what kind of zones will line West Jackson Boulevard.

The aldermen have in their hands a colorful map, a proposal first made by city staff then amended by the city's planning and zoning board. The proposal is the first phase of a blanket rezoning of the city's western entrance.

As it stands now, West Jackson Boulevard is more construction zone than anything else. Steam rollers are flattening surfaces. Orange cones and detour signs direct traffic in front of businesses, apartments and homes which have already had large slices of front yard taken by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The construction is what started the zone talks in the first place; a new four-lane entrance to a rapidly growing city is likely to invite commercial developers to the area. Most of the lots are too small for large retail stores, but there has already been talk of a convenience store, something lacking on the west side of town.

On July 18, property owners will have perhaps their last chance to make their feelings known. A public hearing has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

After that, the city council will eventually accept or reject the proposal, which will affect virtually every property owner on the north and south sides of the thoroughfare from Hope Street to Farmington Road.

From a possibly contentious standpoint, the most notable zoning change will occur between Daisy and Farmington Roads. Currently only one property, the B & B Marine property, was zoned for commercial use. If the proposal passes, the entire block will become C-3, meaning the businesses, because of the small lots, will not be held to the same setback requirements as the C-2 zoning.

The property includes a couple of apartment buildings and houses. The property value for these property owners will likely increase since they are in an envied location. However, just behind the line of houses and apartments is a quiet row of two- and three-story homes, homes that are mostly very well kept.

Little opposition so far

So far in public hearings at the planning and zoning level, there has been very little opposition to the zoning changes. Alderman and business owner Joe Bob Baker and another property owner expressed concern that their properties were going to be zoned C-2, which would require the setbacks. The planning and zoning board changed the recommendation to C-3 to accommodate these concerns.

Otherwise, the rezoning has been unusually void of fuming homeowners.

"I'm surprised there hasn't been some opposition so far," said Jackson planning and building superintendent Janet Sanders.

On Dallas Street, teacher Stacey Leimer lives in a quaint brick house. She bought the place in December, but was told beforehand that there might be zoning changes on the way beyond her back yard.

"I don't really have much to say about it," she said. "There's not a lot you can do about it, but I'm not too worried. My brothers are putting up a privacy fence for me so that will help."

Matthew Pinson, who is renting a house on the street, said he likes to barbecue and throw small parties from time to time.

Even though he doesn't have to worry about property value, "there's still the privacy thing," he said.

The proposal is a mix of planning and housekeeping. Some of the zoning changes were made to foster commercial development; others were made to clean up zoning hodgepodge.

The most notable house-cleaning change was made to properties owned by the city and school district. The police station grounds has an industrial zoning; the fire administration building is zoned commercial and the cemetery is zoned residential. Soon, the entire area will be zoned the same, commercial. The new zoning for the school will eliminate a strip of industrial zone that went with the old Houck Railroad right-of-way. It will also make the entire block surrounded by Colorado, Madison and Oklahoma streets as general residential, meaning apartment buildings are permitted in those areas.

One of the more bizarre zonings in the entire city will be changed under the proposal. Currently, a residential neighborhood south of West Jackson Boulevard, along Colorado and Knox streets is zoned industrial.

Zoning mix-up

Current zoning ordinances prohibit residential use in industrial zones so Sanders isn't sure how the mix-up happened years ago. If a house in that neighborhood burned and was destroyed, the property owners, under the ordinance, would not be allowed to rebuild a house for residential use. The new zoning, to C-2, will change that.

The second phase of the blanket rezoning is already under study at the staff level.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635