Commissioners debate city planning proposal

Rick Vines says it's not his problem if the city of Cape Girardeau has problems with annexed subdivisions.

"Does anyone say if they want to be annexed the city has to take them?" said Vines, a Cape Girardeau County resident, after hearing city officials pitch peripheral planning — which would apply city codes to some areas outside city limits — at Monday's Cape Girardeau County Commission meeting.

No decisions were made. The county commission must have a public hearing before deciding whether to allow the city any planning powers.

Vines said the desire for annexation is leverage for making sure water and sewer lines and road measurements meet city standards.

Ken Eftink, director of the city's development services department, and city planner Martha Brown made it clear the city is not targeting farmers and other county residents for unfriendly annexation.

"It may not be your intent," Vines said. "But years down the road, it will be somebody's intent."

Eftink said the surest way for county residents to have an effect on the planning process is to continue attending meetings and speaking up.

Another county resident, Pat Wissman, said that subdivisions and country living aren't always compatible.

"When a cow dies we don't exactly dig a hole," he said. "We drag the carcass out and let the coyotes chew on it."

Presiding commissioner Gerald Jones seemed to see both sides, telling someone who phoned him in the midst of the meeting he'd had his "teeth kicked in" over a previous county zoning effort.

"If you think I'm interested in doing that twice, that means you don't think I'm very smart," Jones said.

After hearing Eftink and Brown speak, Jones said the city seemed to offer a "more palatable" solution.

Commissioner Jay Purcell said he would not support any proposal that took away the county's authority.

Jackson Mayor Barbara Lohr attended the commissioners' meeting with city planner Janet Sanders.

Jackson requires neighborhoods to meet city codes before annexation, Lohr said, calling it a fair solution that would not burden the city's taxpayers.

Both Lohr and city administrator Jim Roach expressed concern the plan might give Cape Girardeau an advantage over Jackson when it comes to expanding.

Roach said he understands the intent of peripheral planning, recalling the collective septic tank failures in the Grandview Acres subdivision that cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars he said.

Monday night, at Cape Girardeau's city council meeting, Charlie Haubold, the city's planning and zoning board chairman, said he expects it to take month will develop a proposal all sides can accept.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

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