CITY PLANNERS TAKING STOCK OF CAPE GIRARDEAU'S FUTURE

Preparing for how a city will grow over a 20-year period isn't an easy task, but it's one that city planners in Cape Girardeau have tackled.

Cape Girardeau has a comprehensive growth plan and is ready to move to the 21st American cities are ill-equipped for future growth. The plan has been revised and updated to meet the city's changing growth needs.

Cape Girardeau should be credited for getting the support of its residents when planning issues arise, said Kent Bratton, city planner.

Residents might not see the connection, but their support of bonds for water and sewer work in the city show they care about growth, he said. Residents have approved bond elections for water and sewer projects and a Transportation Trust fund for street repairs, which are key elements needed for expansion.

The city has stayed ahead of the growth spurt by planning major improvements like new sewers or water services to areas before they are developed for commercial or residential use.

"We've averaged a mile of trunk sewer connection every year," Bratton said.

So when the city recently approved annexing land west of the then-existing city limits along Route K, no sewer or water lines had to be built. The city had already put in the lines for service as the Notre Dame Regional High School and Eagle Ridge Christian School were being built.

Missouri was one of 29 states that have barely changed planning ordinances since the late 1920s. A report was released this week by the American Planning Association and cites only six states as being leaders in planning laws and ways to address urban sprawl.

"Trying to address today's complicated land use issues with planning statutes that haven't changed since they were drafted in 1928 is a little like trying to navigate today's freeways with a Model T," said Joanne Garnett, president of the planning association, in a press release. "You may get somewhere, but you're going to get there slowly, and you're also going to hold up just about everyone else who shares the road with you."

Roads are key elements to planning growth, so are water and sewer services, Bratton said. "If you don't put in streets, water and sewer, nothing is going to happen. Development follows that."

There isn't an easy answer to the question of how a city should plan its development because there are so many differences in how cities are governed and organized.

But Cape Girardeau, with its active planning and zoning commission, does a good job of getting its plans "off the paper and getting it in the ground," Bratton said.

Since the state has not zoning authority, it's left up to the cities and counties to make regulations. Cape Girardeau was one of the first cities in the area to have a comprehensive plan for development, Bratton said.

About half the states, including Missouri, are using planning legislation developed by federal government officials as the basis for their planning ordinances. That legislation, created in 1928, assured that residential neighborhoods would be separated from industrial and commercial areas and became the framework for zoning ordinances.

Changes in zoning regulations add flexibility, planners say, which is needed in older communities with mixed uses. It would allow more people to "live close to where they work," said Patty Salkin, director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School in New York.

-- The Associated Press contributed some information to this story.