CITY PLAN TO ANNEX LAND SET; TWIN LAKES APPEAL TO GO BEFORE VOTERS

Cape Girardeau officials plan to extend city services to Twin Lakes subdivision within 2 years after voters approve an annexation measure.

City Planner Kent Bratton said Tuesday that officials are hoping to have an ordinance authorizing the annexation by Jan. 1, but a public vote on the issue likely won't come before August 1993.

In October, 75 percent of the property owners at Twin Lakes signed a petition asking the city to annex the 155-acre tract, which would add more than 200 people to the city's population.

At Monday's city council meeting, Bratton presented the city's "plan of intent" to provide city utilities and services to the area within three years as required by state law.

Ray Miller, president of the Twin Lake Homeowners Association, said at the meeting that the association supported the city's plan.

The council approved first reading of the annexation ordinance and will consider final approval at its Dec. 21 meeting.

"We would then file a petition with the circuit court to authorize the annexation," Bratton said Tuesday.

The city planner said it could take three to four months to get a judgment from the court, which would sanction the annexation election.

"Then it's just a matter of the next election date we can hit," Bratton said.

He said the measure could be on the April ballot, but more likely would have to be placed on the regular election ballot in August.

"We'd be pretty lucky to hit April, but we might get lucky," Bratton said. "If we get an early court date and nobody shows up in opposition, we should be able to do that in a day. If that happens, and the judge rules on it, we might get lucky and hit the April election."

Twin Lakes is situated west of the city limits south of Hopper Road and just west of Interstate 55. The subdivision includes 90 to 100 homes.

City officials have said the annexation conforms well with plans to expand the city west of I-55, from Bloomfield Road north. The city also has annexed property west of the interstate along Gordonville and Bloomfield roads.

Miller has said most of the residents of Twin Lakes see annexation as a solution to potential water and sewer problems. In October, he said that although the subdivision has adequate utilities now, residents of the area are looking to the future.

If the court authorizes the annexation, a vote would be held in both the city and the area to be annexed.

Bratton said that if a simple majority of voters in both areas favor the measure, the annexation would be approved. However, if it fails in the area to be annexed, a second vote would be held in which all votes are combined. The annexation would then require a two-thirds majority to pass.

Bratton said at Monday's meeting that, once the annexation is approved, residents of the subdivision immediately would receive 24-hour police and fire protection and solid waste service and be considered residents for parks and recreation programs and facilities.

Gas and electric utilities, which currently are provided to the subdivision by Union Electric, also would be uninterrupted, and city tax assessments then would apply to the subdivision.

City sewer and water service would be extended to the area within 24-30 months, Bratton said.

"As with any annexation, the area would automatically be (single-family residential) zoning immediately upon completion of the election," he added. "We don't anticipate any changes in the zoning."

Bratton said the annexation will be a "step in the right direction" for the city's long-term development of sewer and water service.

"That will be the key to serving the area west of the interstate, and eventually tying that system together between Bloomfield and Hopper," he said.

In other business at Monday's council meeting, G. Keith Deimund amended his request to rezone a tract of land at the corner of Bertling and Sprigg Street.

Deimund's initial plan called for the tract to be divided into sections of commercial and multiple-family, two-family and single-family residential zoning.

At Monday's meeting, the council approved the developer's request to change the commercial section to multiple-family zoning.

In another matter, the council agreed to appoint a committee Dec. 21 to study methods of financing the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation's plan to purchase and renovate St. Vincent's Seminary.