COUNTY ZONING GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

JACKSON -- Cape Girardeau County will go first class on Jan. 1, 1997.

The designation means lots of small changes in county government, including the ability to put county zoning to a vote of the people.

So what? says Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones. The county commission could do that now.

County classifications are based on assessed valuation. If a county has an assessed valuation of more than $450 million for five years in a row, it qualifies for first-class status. Cape County hit the $450 million mark in 1991, and its assessed valuation was about $547 million this year.

Although some in the county assumed a move to first-class county status would mean the implementation of zoning rules on land in Cape Girardeau County, a state statute would indicate otherwise.

Section 64.211 of the Missouri State Statutes says a first-class county not operating a planning or zoning program may, "after approval by vote of the people in that county," provide for a county plan.

Missouri Association of Counties Executive Director Juanita Donehue said the law is clear. While a first-class county has more authority over building permits and other growth, the residents must vote in zoning.

Cape Girardeau County voters eliminated zoning in November 1992 after the Citizens Against Unfair Planning and Zoning Committee got it on the ballot by petition.

The same thing happened in Jefferson County, Donehue said, but citizens there voted for zoning again in 1993.

"I think people in Jefferson County realized that 75 percent of the people lived in unincorporated areas, so they had better do something," Donehue said. "They have all the growing pains of metropolitan areas."

That wasn't the case with Cape Girardeau County. Even former planning and zoning director Charles Englehart has admitted the lack of zoning hasn't had a major effect on the county.

Darrell Hanschen and Scott McDowell, who helped lead the drive against planning and zoning in Cape County, both said they could support zoning with common sense. Their contention was that the old planning and zoning board had too much power and was unfair to some.

Hanschen lives on a small farm outside Fruitland and raises horses. He said he moved there to escape restrictive city life and enjoys the privacy and freedom of the country.

"If the county commission will get the people involved and do zoning fairly and provide some place to take complaints, then I won't fight it," Hanschen said. "Before, our only recourse was to get rid of the whole darn thing."

In light of Section 64.211, Jones said he probably wouldn't argue for zoning in Cape County.

"They voted it out in 1992," he said. "If they want it back, they can bring it back the same way. That will probably be my same attitude in 1997."