Cape Girardeau County will need voter approval to regulate subdivisions

If Cape Girardeau County wants to regulate subdivisions, it can do so, but only with voter consent, an assistant to the county commission said.

During Monday's county commission meeting, Robb McClary presented his findings on the issue, which was discussed in a joint meeting of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson planning and zoning commissions.

In the Oct. 28 meeting, Jackson chairwoman Mary Miller asked the county commissioners to explore the issue of creating subdivision development rules further.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones then asked McClary to compile the report presented Monday.

"This is in response to your question of whether or not the county commission of a noncharter first-class county can adopt subdivision regulations," McClary said in his report on the issue. "The basic answer is yes, but only with a vote of the people."

If approved by voters, a planning commission would be authorized to make the subdivision rules that the county commission could, in turn, adopt.

The county has no planning or zoning in unincorporated areas and has no restrictions on where any particular type of development locates. In 1992 voters discontinued planning and zoning, eliminating the county's authority to impose regulations on subdivisions. Eight years later, voters rejected planning and zoning.

McClary said the subdivision regulations would apply to property of less than five acres. Regulations would include establishing a setback from the property boundary to establish the distance between the building and the outer boundary of the property. That would ensure each property is not placed too near the adjacent one.

Additionally, setbacks would also be established on the street to control storm-water runoff and allow for vehicles of a certain width to travel through the thoroughfare.

Jones said during the joint planning and zoning commission meeting that some people had expressed concern over emergency vehicles having trouble fitting through narrow streets.

The commissioners did not take any action on subdivision regulations.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

388-3628