Cape orders barge off riverfront

Cape Girardeau city officials have ordered the owner of a floating dock to tow it away from the foot of Riverfront Park by 5 p.m. Friday so it won't hamper future dockings of the River Explorer, Mississippi Queen and Delta Queen tourist boats.

The owner of the barge-turned-dock, Neal Day of Cape Girardeau, hoped to open a floating bar and grill on the river.

But city manager Doug Leslie said the city won't allow the 30-by-90-foot barge to remain in its current spot because it interferes with the ability of the big passenger boats to dock at Riverfront Park.

The Mississippi Queen is scheduled to dock at Cape Girardeau at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Convention and Visitors Bureau officials said this is the last scheduled docking of a major passenger boat in Cape Girardeau this year.

Tim Arbeiter, executive director of the Old Town Cape redevelopment organization, said passenger boats need room to tie up.

"They bring a lot of business into the downtown," he said. But a floating dock area like that proposed by Day would also be nice, he said.

Day, who operates a trucking company in Sikeston, Mo., said Wednesday he will comply with the city's demand.

He said he was always willing to move the dock whenever the big passenger boats needed the mooring space.

The barge has been moored along the Cape Girardeau riverfront since Sept. 16. It was used as a dock for passengers boarding the Grampa Woo yacht, which provided tours of the river earlier this fall.

But Day said he never intended to permanently moor his barge at the foot of Riverfront Park near the Broadway floodgate. His goal is to open a restaurant and bar at a site about 150 yards upstream, where there's a mooring post.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said Cape Girardeau could benefit by having a dock that would serve visitors who travel the river in their pleasure boats, but that any such development needs city approval.

City officials so far aren't willing to approve Day's business venture.

Any development would have to be clearly spelled out, the mayor said.

Even if the city were to allow Day to open a restaurant on the river, he would have to meet all city regulations including safety codes, officials said. He would have to buy a merchant's license too.

"This isn't something where somebody can just decide to hook up to the Cape Girardeau riverfront and be open for business," the mayor said.

Day said he's not trying to get around city regulations.

"I wasn't just trying to come down here and homestead the riverfront," he said.

At the same time, Day argues that he has every right to operate on the river. City officials don't control that, he said. "They don't own the river."

But police chief Carl Kinnison said the Coast Guard told him that a permanently moored vessel must meet all city codes.

Day bought the barge from the city of Alton, Ill., after Cape Girardeau city officials publicly expressed interest in obtaining the barge at no cost.

The dock ended up in Alton's possession after an excursion boat operation went out of business. The city of Alton wanted the barge removed.

"Now it has turned out to be sour grapes," Day said of the attitude of Cape Girardeau city officials toward his proposed venture.

Day said a river town like Cape Girardeau needs a marina to meet the needs of visiting boaters.

"Everybody says, 'Yeah, we need it,' but nobody wants to put a plan in action," a frustrated Day said as he looked back at the city from his barge late Wednesday afternoon.

He argued that city officials simply don't know how to handle river developments. "Rather than try to deal with it, they are saying, 'Just get the heck out of here and don't bother us,''' he said.

Day said he might temporarily dock the barge farther south at a Scott City quarry.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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