COUNCIL TO CONSIDER REPAIR-SHOP ORDINANCES

A Cape Girardeau mechanic's special use permit for his garage was approved Monday with a unique provision -- a limit on the number of cars allowed on his property.

It was the first step in an upcoming Cape Girardeau City Council effort to reduce the number of broken-down cars sitting on garage lots. The special use permit applied to property at 915 N. Main, located in a single-family residential district.

During a study session before Monday's regular council meeting, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended granting the permit.

"If this business is operated the way it should be, it will be an improvement over what is there now," R.J. McKinney, planning commissioner, said, noting the property's state of disrepair.

But councilmen were concerned about the growing number of car-repair businesses with junk cars littering their lots. During the meeting, Fred Coleman, representing garage owner George Harrell, promised that junk cars already are being moved off the Main Street property. Coleman said the building would be painted in two weeks.

Because the garage will use two bays, Councilman Richard Eggimann suggested only five cars at a time be allowed on the property. The council approved the special use permit and requested City Attorney Eric Cunningham research laws pertaining to repair shops and junk cars.

They will review the laws at the May 6 meeting.

Councilmen quickly approved another special use permit request, this one submitted by Mary Ewing-Crafton for a day-care center at 833 N. Spanish. The center already has been approved by the state to keep 20 children.

In other action, the council rezoned property at the southern intersection of Kingshighway and Boulder Crest Drive from single family residential to multi-family residential and commercial. Vernon and Carole Rhodes plan to have apartments, townhouses, a swimming pool and tennis courts on part of the property, leaving the rest open for commercial development.

The council also rezoned property in the 800 and 900 block of Hackberry Street from light industrial to multi-family residential. Ernest Beussink, Earl Norman and Cohen-Esrey Housing Partners Inc. plan to construct low- to moderate-income housing on the land.