Cape Girardeau council tables sidewalk ordinance

As expected, the Cape Girardeau City Council unanimously moved to table an ordinance requiring local builders to install sidewalks or escrow funds before beginning construction on subdivisions.

Several local builders attended the council meeting Monday night to express their displeasure over the measure they say will ultimately cost homeowners money.

Local developer and builder Mike Annis thinks contractors are being unfairly targeted by the proposal. "In the past we had things that made sense -- sidewalks within one mile of school, on arterial streets or high density areas -- but to require them in these small subdivisions, that's insanity, guys," he said.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said he wants to make sure that no more subdivisions go up with gaps in their sidewalk coverage and does not think the city is taking an anti-development stance.

"I get calls all the time from companies looking to relocate, and one thing they ask me is, 'Do you have sidewalks?'" Knudtson said. "I'm told from these people that [they] do not go into communities that don't have sidewalks. 'Communities with sidewalks are progressive,' they say."

Even so, Knudtson does not want to estrange builders well established in Cape Girardeau. "You guys are the lifeblood of our community," he told the contractors in attendance Monday.

In the past, problems arose when builders installed sidewalks on a lot-by-lot basis, often waiting until the last moment to lay them down.

City manager Doug Leslie in particular is displeased by the phone calls he receives from new homeowners who are unable to receive the occupancy permit necessary to move into their homes because builders failed to lay the sidewalks.

Leslie said he will work with local developers and listen to their suggestions in the upcoming weeks hoping to find a middle ground on the issue.

Knudtson thinks a mutually acceptable solution might involve an escrow sum from developers of between $1,600 and $1,800 per lot as an insurance policy on the sidewalks.

Builders like Annis, however, are never enthusiastic about escrows which require developers either to overpay or deal directly with the homeowners.

"If we escrow money we're never going to be able to make people happy," Annis said. He said he would have to hire a lawyer full time.

Although willing to table the ordinance for the time being, Knudtson expressed frustration at the late date the builders chose to express their concerns on the sidewalk issue.

"These folks never come out of the woodwork until we're taking a vote and the thing is about to become law," he said at the council's 5 p.m. study session.

The ordinance was approved unanimously by the city council at the first reading on Dec. 5.

In other action Monday, the council approved a contract with Zoellner Construction Co. Inc. to build Cape Girardeau's new fire station on North Sprigg Street. The contract will pay the Perryville company $2,071,953 for the project with an estimated completion time of 10 months. Five other contractors bid on the project.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245