Council approves Collegewood Apartments project

The owner of Collegewood Apartments will get to build four more apartment buildings despite concerns from neighbors.

The Cape Girardeau City Council Monday night unanimously granted a special-use permit for the development provided that apartment complex owner E.W. Geiser replaces the existing chain-link fence with a new, 6-foot-high chain-link fence along the south property line, and provides a 30-foot-wide green space and plants Eastern white pines to screen the complex from neighboring homes with back yards that border the site. Geiser also must widen a second entrance to the site from 14 feet to 24 feet.

Geiser already has two apartment buildings on the 3.6-acre site at 807 N. Sprigg St. The additional four buildings will add 40 more apartments to the complex, a new office, workshop and laundry area, said project architect Tom Holshouser of Cape Girardeau.

The land already is zoned for apartments and the project could have been done without a special-use permit by subdividing the site, city officials and he said.

"The apartments are going to be built one way or another," Holshouser told the council.

But Mike Ratliff, assistant administrator of the Ratliff Care Center, which adjoins the property, opposed the development. He said he was worried about the possibility of additional traffic on the driveway that serves his nursing home.

"The easement was never meant to serve the apartment complex," Ratliff said.

But Holshouser said the apartment complex would be best served by a second entrance on Sprigg Street, particularly for access by emergency vehicles. "It's always good to have two ways out," he said.

Council members said they had little option but to approve the project because it is already zoned for apartments. "Our hands are significantly tied," Mayor Jay Knudtson said.

Neighbor John Voss of 834 Alta Vista Drive questioned whether city officials would enforce any of the requirements spelled out in the special-use permit.

But city manager Doug Leslie said the city staff would enforce the requirements. If the conditions aren't met, the council can revoke the permit, officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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