CITY DEBATES HALFWAY HOUSE REVISION: EXISTING ZONES PROHIBITS SUCH OPERATIONS ALMOST EVERYWHERE

Supporters of a proposed halfway house program say they will wait and see how a revised zoning requirement affects their project.

The Cape Girardeau City Council agreed this week to consider revising a zoning clause that would prohibit the residential treatment program for inmates in the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole from almost every area of the city.

The Division of Probation and Parole has contracted with the Gibson Recovery Center, 1112 Linden, to provide residential treatment services for prisoners who are within 90 days of their release dates to help ease them into the community.

The halfway house would be the first in Southeast Missouri.

In August, councilmen approved on first reading a bill that would have allowed halfway houses only within districts zoned C-2 general commercial with special use permits.

The original proposal would have restricted halfway houses from being within 500 feet of schools, group homes, day-care centers, motels and residential homes, and would have restricted the permits to one year.

The new proposal, which will appear on the council's Oct. 20 agenda, would expand the areas into which halfway houses could locate to include most of the city's commercial, manufacturing and industrial zoning areas. A special use permit would still be required, but the permit would be issued for two years following a public hearing.

In addition, the original proposal included facilities for both juvenile and adult offenders. The revision would require juvenile and adult facilities to be dealt with separately.

The revision would also require the operators to provide security information, and would allow the city to consider proximity to schools, residential zones, day-care centers, group homes, nursing homes and other such facilities on a case-by-case basis. The 500-foot ban has been dropped from the revised proposal.

The Gibson Center, which provides residential drug- and alcohol-abuse treatment programs for 20 to 24 people, is zoned R-4 residential.

A memo to council members from city planner Kent Bratton points out that the Gibson Center would need to be rezoned before a special use permit could be considered.

The center's proximity to apartments for senior citizens and the handicapped and to Parkview State School and the Head Start center caused some concern for city officials and neighboring residents.

Dick Decker, executive director of the Gibson Center, said he has requested a copy of the proposed revision and he and his staff will study it. "I really don't know how it's going to affect us," he said.

Decker said he wonders if the city is considering changes that might place further restrictions on his facility's operations.

"There are certain needs in the community that we might consider developing programs for in the future," he said.

Decker said the Gibson Center is the logical place for the halfway house program.

"It's more efficient and more manageable to have all of your programs on one campus," he said.

Debbie Cotner of the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole said the state is waiting for the zoning issue "to be ironed out." No other sites for the halfway house have been considered, she said.

Ward 2 Councilman Tom Neumeyer was among people concerned about the halfway house being at the Gibson Center because of its proximity to homes and children's services.

"You name it, it's right there within spitting distance," he said.

But Neumeyer isn't opposed to having a halfway house within the city. And, he said, the revision now under consideration would open a wide variety of possible locations for such a program.

"Under the conditions, it would be allowed down there (at the Gibson Center)," Neumeyer said. "They would need a special use permit and rezoning; it's not barring them from doing it."

One of Neumeyer's concerns is that there are no restrictions on what types of offenders could be placed in the halfway house, and neighbors wouldn't be notified if sex offenders or other inmates with violent histories are there.

With the Head Start Center and the state school for the handicapped so close to the Gibson Center, "there's some very vulnerable young people there," he said.

"If we could get a little bit of a buffer zone, that would help. I hope we can work together on this," he said.