CAPE EYES ANNEXATION OPTIONS

Taking control of the water system from Union Electric some 2 1/2 years ago enabled the city of Cape Girardeau to embark on a growth pattern that has yet to slow.

The growth in the last few years has prompted the planning and zoning commission to designate eight areas for possible annexation in the next five years.

Areas under consideration for annexation:

-- Route W in the North County 618 Dry Detention Basin area.

-- Boutin Drive (Route W) west to County Farm Park.

-- North Lexington corridor.

-- Cape Rock Village/Tanglewood Estates.

-- Arterial road extending from Hoppe road south to Route K along the west edge of Twin Lakes.

-- West side of Cape West Business Park and north of Bloomfield Road.

-- Area adjoining Evans annexation on the south.

-- Greater Cape Girardeau Industrial Park expansion to include the Armstrong, Cohen and other tracts that lie in Scott County between the Industrial Park and Cape Regional Airport.

"No matter what you plan to build or what area you want to develop, the first thing you look for is water," City Planner Kent Bratton said. The city's ability to provide water where it was needed fueled the growth spurt.

Last year the city collected $39 million in building permit fees, he said, adding that the previous five years the city averaged $30 million a year in construction.

The city's ability to provide a sewer trunk line to the area along Route K led to the emergence of businesses like Wal-Mart and the Twin Lakes Subdivision.

"Maybe Wal-Mart would have come here anyway, but it seemed like it happened faster once the sewer line was already there," Bratton said.

A relatively large number of factors come into play in regard to annexation. One of the critical issues becomes whether annexation would be voluntary or involuntary.

A voluntary annexation takes city council passing an ordinance, Bratton said. Residents must show 100 percent approval in a particular tract of land.

As for involuntary annexation, Bratton said, an election is involved and it becomes a lengthy process.

"If it would pass in the city and not in the area designated for annexation, it would have to go to a second vote of everyone involved," he said. If it failed to get a simple majority, the matter would be dead for two years.

Bratton said voluntary annexations typically involve relatively small tracts of land, such as the two that were just passed by the city council.

The property east of Cape Rock Drive and west of Old Sprigg Street Road and the area on County Road 205 (Bloomfield Road), County Road 206 (Benton Hill Road) and Wolf Lane, which is southwest of Cape Girardeau, were both approved for annexation by the city council last summer. The timetable for providing water and sewer services to these areas is three years.

"The more people who live in a given area, the more chances one or two will be against annexation," Bratton said. "It only takes one to be against it and then you have to go to an election."

The reason the planning and zoning commission decided to adopt a five-year annexation plan, from 1995-2000, is to determine which areas are closely tied to the city's Capital Improvements Program. Bratton said not all eight areas will be annexed in five years.

Areas involved in capital improvement programs, would be factors in the consideration for annexation, Bratton said.

"No one or two areas are going to be given any special priority, though," Bratton said.

Revenues from casinos won't be a factor in capital improvement projects because it is difficult to gauge how much money will be generated.

Capital improvement plans are based on money already figured into the city budget.

The extent of current development adjacent to and near the city also becomes a factor in designating areas for annexation.

Thus, property along the north Lexington corridor and Twin Lakes Subdivision appear to be natural annexation territories.