COUNTY P&Z COMMISSION TO BE NAMED

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission will unveil a new planning and zoning commission to develop a strategy for control of future construction growth.

The 10-member board will be introduced Monday at 10 a.m. during a public meeting at the County Administration Building in Jackson.

"The county in the long haul needs to be able to protect against objectionable things coming into the county," said Commissioner Joe Gambill. "With reasonable controls and a reasonable approach to planning and zoning, it can be a very useful tool."

The planning and zoning commission will consist of one member from each of the county's 10 townships.

Presiding County Commissioner Gerald Jones said no timetable is set for the planning board to develop a master plan for the county. Jones expects the board, moving slowly and taking time for public input, will have a plan ready within two years but perhaps as soon as one.

Any master plan would have to be approved by a majority of county voters.

"The final decision will be up to the voters," Jones said. "Plain and simple, it will be their call."

The County Commission has until Jan. 1 -- when the county moves from second-class to first-class status -- to create a planning and zoning panel without a public vote.

State law provides that second-, third- and fourth-class counties may create planning and zoning commissions. Because of a legislative glitch, the law giving first-class counties the same power was nullified earlier this year.

County planning and zoning has proved controversial in the past. In 1992, voters rejected a proposed countywide master plan, scrapping the 20-year-old planning commission. Opponents feared the plan as written would have resulted in over-regulation.

All three commissioners said creation of a new planning and zoning panel while the county retains its second-class status is not an attempt to bypass voters.

"This just eliminates the first step and the time and cost in having an election to establish a planning commission," Jones said.

With the expansion of construction in the county, Commissioner Larry Bock said many of those who opposed the old proposal now see the need for controls to be in place as new buildings sprout up throughout the county.

Jones agreed many provisions of the previous plan were more detailed than necessary and didn't always follow common sense.

"We do not want to regulate someone putting a new roof on their barn or building a shed," said Jones. "I don't see the necessity of regulating those things; I do see the need to regulate things that could be detrimental to the county."

Right now, Jones said, a large-scale hog producer or solid waste dump could move into the county. As long as such operations complied with state and federal regulations, the county would be powerless to act on behalf of residents opposed to such operations.

"If it is out of the city limits of an incorporated area, we have no jurisdiction whatsoever," Jones said.

Extensive public input and participation in development of the master plan will be sought to avoid problems of the previous proposal.

"I would hope that prior to any plan being completed that everyone who has concerns would speak their peace then so the planning commission could consider those concerns and change the plan," Bock said.

No matter what the new planning board comes up with, voters will have the final say.

"I think we've got to have some kind of master plan, but if voters don't want it, we won't have it," Jones said.