CITY ADVANCES ANNEXATION PROCESS FOR TWIN LAKES

The Cape Girardeau City Council Monday advanced a plan to annex Twin Lakes subdivision, the city's first major annexation effort in several years.

The subdivision, situated just west of Interstate 55 along Hopper Road, is comprised of nearly 100 homes.

At Monday's meeting, the council approved two resolutions that will enable the annexation process to proceed.

The council also approved a subdivision plat that essentially will quell any immediate plans to extend Kent Drive to Lexington Avenue in the Woodland Hills subdivision.

The Twin Lakes annexation was prompted by a petition circulated in the subdivision by property owners who favored annexation as a way to secure city water, sewer, utility and other services.

The council Monday unanimously approved a resolution affirming that the area to be annexed is "contiguous and compact to the existing city." The second annexation resolution set a public hearing on the proposal for Dec. 7.

Assistant City Manager Al Stoverink said during the council's study session that the Dec. 7 public hearing will enable the city to submit the annexation plan to circuit court by the first of the year.

If approved by the court, the city would establish an election date to submit the proposal to voters in the city and Twin Lakes. If a simple majority of voters in both areas approves the measure, the annexation would proceed.

"It's a fairly lengthy process," added Stoverink.

The Kent Drive extension project was controversial two years ago when developer P. David Gerlach told city officials he wanted to change his preliminary plat for the subdivision and eliminate a Kent Drive connection with Lexington.

City officials said Monday they didn't think the street was needed because of other existing and planned access routes in the subdivision.

"As Mr. Gerlach says, it'd be nice to have that street in there, but it would be very expensive," said City Manager J. Ronald Fischer. "If you asked me if this is needed and whether the city should participate in the cost of construction, I'd say no. That street isn't something that's a necessity for the public as a whole."

But Councilman Al Spradling III questioned whether the city would come back in five to 10 years to again request that the street be built.

Spradling said that although the city's Planning and Zoning Commission has for the past two years maintained that the street isn't necessary, the council voted to extend Kent to Lexington.

"If the city has said it's necessary to put Kent through, we need to do it now and not come back in five to 10 years and have to condemn the property," he said. "If we're going to put it through, let's do it now so it's not going to cost us a fortune in the future."

But Fischer said he didn't anticipate a more compelling reason for the street would surface in the next 10 years.

Stoverink said Kent Drive is typical of many controversial city issues in that it's impossible to say whether future city officials will agree with current opinion on the need for the street.

The council's decision two years ago to extend the street followed a public meeting where residents of Woodland Hills packed the council chamber to protest plans to nix the extension.

Councilman Melvin Kasten said he received a phone call Monday from a resident of the neighborhood urging the council to put the street through.

Kasten was the only council member to vote against approval of the subdivision plans that eliminated the Kent Drive right of way to Lexington. The record plat was approved 4-1, with council members David Limbaugh and Doug Richards abstaining.

Limbaugh abstained because the law firm for which he works represents Gerlach and Randol Farms Development Inc. Richards abstained for non-financial reasons, he said.

Although Spradling voted to approve the record plat, he said his vote was based on the staff's recommendation that the street wasn't needed.

"I have in the past opposed not putting Kent Street through," he said. "I do not like Kent Street going out; I do not like the precedent we have set over the past two years.

"But I'm going to support this so this can move forward, and because the staff feels there's no compelling reason to have Kent Street through to Lexington."

In other business the council gave first-reading approval to:

A special use permit to change the zoning from industrial to residential for a tract of land in the 1200 blocks of Meadowbrook Lane and Larry Drive.

A special use permit for a mobile home at the rear of the house at 1232 Larry Drive.

A special use permit for the Cape County Private Ambulance Service to build new facility adjacent to their existing building at 1458 N. Kingshighway.

A resolution to authorize an engineering contract with S.H. Smith for the South Sprigg Street Bridge Project.

Plans to extend water and sewer service to the new Cape Girardeau Nutrition Center site.

The record plat of a minor subdivision of Cape Commercial Park, situated on Boulder Crest Drive and North Kingshighway. The council also gave "emergency" final approval of the plat.

An ordinance to establish an additional handicapped parking space on Broadway.