Cape Girardeau City Council sends peripheral zoning to county commission

The Cape Girardeau City Council has tossed the potentially controversial peripheral zoning proposal into the hands of county government.

Council members passed a resolution on a unanimous vote Monday night to send a packet on peripheral zoning, which would empower city leaders to control what is built outside its borders, to the Cape Girardeau County Commission and asking it to take action.

That was despite a plea from Mary Miller to table or vote no on the issue. Miller is the chairwoman of a Jackson-Cape Girardeau advisory board that is studying countywide subdivision regulations.

Miller said her group, made up of representatives from both cities' planning and zoning commissions, city staffs and a county commissioner, is 30 days from finishing a report of its findings.

"I personally believe that your peripheral zoning is going to muddy the waters of what we're trying to do," Miller said. "We want to have organized growth while protecting our land values."

But council members, chiefly Mark Lanzotti, said now is not the time to wait. Lanzotti said both subdivisions regulations and peripheral zoning would work well together.

"These two processes are consistent and not in competition," Lanzotti said. "Your plan deals with subdivisions only. If, hypothetically, near a large Catholic high school someone wants to put in a pig farm, there's nothing that prohibits them from that in the subdivision rules."

The ordinance drafted by city staff, if approved by the county commission, would apply within a two-mile area extending from the city's limits. The peripheral zone would become AG-1, a less-restrictive agricultural designation that allows farming, single-family houses and small businesses. Other permitted uses include orchards, police and fire stations, bed and breakfasts, golf courses, nurseries and greenhouses, wineries and public parks.

Only when changes in use were proposed that would be nonconforming to AG-1 would the new ordinance be applicable, requiring proposals go to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for review and on to the city council for consideration.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said last week he was skeptical about peripheral zoning, especially considering a vote in 2000 in which county voters soundly defeated countywide zoning. The commission will be required by statute to host at least one public hearing on the matter.

While the vote was unanimous, not every council member was initially comfortable with sending the information to the commission.

"I feel rushed," council member Debra Tracy said. "I appreciate what Mary said. I'm struggling a bit with it in how important it is to do tonight."

Three residents also spoke at the meeting, expressing concerns about peripheral zoning or outright opposition. Two residents spoke in favor.

But Lanzotti said that sending the request to the commission would simply get the discussion started.

"We're not going to control the timing after this," he said. "It's going to be controlled by the Cape Girardeau County Commission. I think it's time to elevate the debate. Why wait? To date, the dialogue has not occurred because we've waited."

The county commission could hold public hearings and vote on the issue or simply sit on the proposal. This is the council's second attempt in recent years to get peripheral zoning on the books.

Council member John Voss said he strongly supported the resolution.

"If we don't act, we're abdicating our responsibility to the county," Voss said. "I am unwilling to wait anymore. We have waited long enough. To wait another day, I think, would be irresponsible."

Other business

* The council heard a preliminary traffic report commissioned by Isle of Capri on effects its proposed casino would have on city streets. While a copy of the report was not provided to media, representatives of the St. Louis-based Kuhlmann Design Group told the council that existing city streets would handle extra traffic generated by the casino. Isle of Capri estimates 1 million new visitors would visit its casino each year. Dick Meister, Isle's vice president of design and construction, said most of the visitors would come during off-peak hours after 5 p.m.

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401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO