City council: No permit required for food program

After a lengthy public hearing, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to skip the special permit process for Christ Church of the Heartland.

The church asked for the permit after the city investigated neighbors' complaints of a retail-style operation in their residential neighborhood. The church sells inexpensive groceries bought wholesale by the Georgia-based not-for-profit Angel Food Ministries. On Oct. 10, the planning and zoning commission told the church it should sell the groceries elsewhere.

As the council's 5 p.m. study session wrapped up, Mayor Jay Knudtson told council members they had three options for addressing the church's monthly grocery operation at its 720 Bertling St. location, which is zoned R-1 -- the strictest of the city's four levels of residential zoning.

He said they could vote to uphold the planning and zoning commission's unanimous decision to deny the church a special-use permit, or they could reject the commission's recommendation and approve the permit.

"I'm personally of the opinion, pending comment, there is no special-use permit required," he said.

Ward 1 Councilman John Voss, after saying he was disappointed with the church's pursuit of a five-fold expansion and its decision to construct a parking lot in an area once filled with woods, made the motion that no permit was required.

"It is a ministry," he said.

Councilman Matt Hopkins seconded the motion. The vote was made unanimous by Knudtson and councilwomen Debra Tracy and Loretta Schneider. Charlie Herbst and Marcia Ritter were absent from the meeting; both were out of town.

John Cook, a resident of Sylvan Lane spoke to the city council Monday night. (Fred Lynch)

Applause erupted from nearly 100 church members in attendance.

Schneider said her church participates in Angel Food Ministries and she has in the past purchased the groceries.

The decision to allow the church to continue selling Angel Food Ministries groceries will not likely end differences between the church and its neighbors.

During the public hearing, which lasted more than an hour, a series of church members as well as Angel Food Ministries customers spoke in favor of the low-cost grocery program.

"You can call it a ministry, you can call it a store," said Gene Johnson, a Scott's Lane resident, during the public hearing.

Johnson, whose home is next to the parking lot where the refrigerator truck is stationed on grocery days, said he opted to pay more for his home "to get the protection of the R-1 zoning" and felt the city had not kept its implied promise to him.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127