Cape council votes to brighten Broadway; supports two development projects

The Cape Girardeau City Council voted Monday to brighten Broadway.

The council awarded a contract to Cotner Electric Co. Inc. to replace the Broadway streetlights with new LED lights and fixtures designed to better illuminate the area.

Cotner submitted the low bid of just over $94,000, city engineer Casey Brunke said in an agenda report to the council.

The city plans to replace more than 50 high-pressure sodium lights over Broadway from Pacific to Spanish streets.

Brunke wrote the LED lights will result in lower power consumption and maintenance costs, and longer life, resulting in �substantial cost savings.�

City manager Scott Meyer said, �It is going to spread the light over a bigger area.� He added it should help illuminate the sidewalks.

The existing streetlights were part of the redesign of Broadway, which was completed in 2012.

The streetlights hang down over the middle of the street. But the limited illumination has prompted complaints from the public that Broadway from Pacific Street eastward is too dark.

Mayor Harry Rediger said plans for the new Broadway lighting show �a significant difference in lighting spread.�

Meyer said he did not have a timetable for when the project will be completed, adding it is �heavily weather dependent.�

In other action, the council endorsed a proposed tax-credit housing project and approved an agreement with a commercial developer on another project.

MACO Development of Clarkton, Missouri, wants to secure tax credits through the Missouri Housing Development Commission to build 50, two-bedroom apartments for senior citizens on a 6.8-acre site at 550 N. Silver Springs Road.

The proposed site is next to MACO�s existing, tax-credit-financed apartment complex for senior citizens.

The Housing Development Commission voted against issuing any state tax credits this year. But developer Jason Maddox said last week he still could seek federal tax credits.

At Monday�s study session before the regular meeting, Maddox said there is demand for affordable, senior-citizen housing in Cape Girardeau.

�There is a huge waiting list,� he told the council.

Gov. Eric Greitens and members of the housing commission have criticized the low-income housing, tax-credit program. The governor has called it �a scam.�

But Rediger said the proposed project �is a good thing.�

Council members also approved an agreement with South K Transportation Development District and South K Inc. regarding a shopping area on South Kingshighway.

Developer Scott Rhodes of South K Inc. and Rhodes Development Co. own the shopping area that contains Hobby Lobby and several other stores.

Rhodes petitioned the circuit court to set up a tax-funded transportation development district to help pay for a new entrance to the shopping area and other public improvements. A judge granted the request last month.

City development services director Alex McElroy wrote in an agenda report to the council that �there is no direct financial impact to the city.�

The agreement allows the transportation district to reimburse the developer for a maximum of $869,000-plus in eligible costs for parking lot and street improvements.

The funding will come from a 1 percent sales tax that will be levied on customer purchases at businesses in the transportation district for up to 25 years.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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