COUNCIL LIKELY TO APPROVE PLAN TO BUILD NEW CHURCH

Cape Girardeau City Council members say First Amendment rulings are tying their hands on a divisive plan to build a church and day-care center on Old Hopper Road.

But that doesn't mean First Assembly of God of Cape Girardeau can build whatever it wants, city manager Michael Miller wrote in a memo to councilmen. City government could dictate some of the particulars of the project.

First Assembly is locked in a bitter battle with neighbors over its proposed 53.7-acre project along Old Hopper Road. Neighbors oppose the size of the church's project, even though the city's Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended eliminating an amphitheater and a sports complex.

The church had originally sought to build an amphitheater, sports complex, church and day-care center on the property.

Neighbors say allowing the church to be built there now opens the door for the project to come to fruition later. They say the church alone will create unbearable traffic, bright lights and noise pollution in what normally is a peaceful, residential setting.

The site initially will have entrances on Old Hopper Road and New Hopper Road, but will have only one entrance onto New Hopper Road once the church opens.

Mayor Al Spradling III said council members have no choice but to approve the plan at Monday's regular meeting.

"The Missouri Supreme Court has said that cities don't have any authority over where a church builds," Spradling said. "Apparently, that would be intervening with the free exercise of religion."

Spradling said the council might have some leeway on regulating parking spaces and any future sports complex, but eliminating an amphitheater would be tricky.

Law is clear

"If the amphitheater was used for religious purposes, then I don't think we would be able to say much about it," Spradling said. "I don't think we have any choice based on the law. The law is clear, it's cut and dry."

Councilman Frank Stoffregen said he understands the law, but that doesn't mean he's happy about it.

"When you're talking about the building the size of Wal-Mart and 1,200 parking spaces, it's hard to say it is a neighborhood church," he said. "But we have no power to turn it down. If we turn them down, the church could hire an attorney and then they'd win in court."

Councilman Butch Eggimann said he plans to look at what the council can do as far as keeping the church as unobtrusive to the neighborhood as possible.

"We have to let them build a church, but I don't think we have to let them do whatever they want," he said.

Neighbors say the law should apply equally to everyone.

"We're going to go down to the meeting and say our piece anyway," said Drake Kambitch of 3606 Old Hopper Road. "If you and I wanted to start a business like a day care, we'd have to do it in a commercial zone."

Steve LeGrand of 3618 Old Hopper Road said neighbors -- who have collected 200 signatures of opponents -- are looking into the law.

"An amphitheater? A day care? None of that has anything to do with a church," LeGrand said. "What does a sports complex that will cost money have anything to do with freedom of religion or serving the Lord?"

But not all neighbors are against the proposal.

Shirley Gregory, a real-estate agent who lives at 3631 Hopper Road, said she doesn't see how a church can hurt the neighborhood.

"That could have turned into anything," she said. "It could have been a store or some other business. This is the best thing for that property."

Besides, she said, she would never do anything to stop a church from coming in. "God would get me," she joked.

The church's pastor, Gary Brothers, said there are a lot of misconceptions about the project that he plans to clear up at next week's meeting. The parking lot will actually be fewer than 500 spaces, he said, not more than 1,000.

He said there will never be 2,000 cars at the new church, despite what some have said. Each of the three services will likely have fewer than 200 cars per service, Brothers said.

Brothers acknowledges that the church will increase traffic in the area, but he believes it will be much less than other types of developments, such as residential and commercial.

"And most of it will be on Sunday morning," he said. "What other type of development promises that?"