Council pauses peripheral planning

Cape Girardeau's peripheral planning initiative is on hold.

Charlie Haubold, chairman of the city's planning and zoning board, said the city should postpone the planning idea until the county commission gets some of its current controversy resolved. The commission's discord, along with feedback from county property owners, makes the timing poor to pursue planning outside the city limits, Haubold said.

But there is a Plan B. In 1994, the city enacted an ordinance for annexing subdivisions that deal with water and sewer issues, but not streets. "It's not perfect but we can work with it," Haubold said.

Study sessions, feedback from county property owners, and the recent discord within the county commission all played a factor in the decision, Haubold said.

The city council members who heard Haubold's suggestion during Friday's council retreat informally agreed to the temporary solution, though Mayor Jay Knudtson said the city must move forward at some point with a peripheral planning initiative.

State law allows cities as large as Cape Girardeau in first-class counties to establish external planning and zoning, but it must have the approval of county commissioners. City officials only wanted to apply planning to subdivisions outside the city. The commissioners cannot approve a plan without holding a public hearing.

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