COUNTY ZONING VOTE PROBABLY NEXT YEAR; JONES SAYS PLAN PROGRESSING

Voters may get a chance next year to decide whether they want planning and zoning in Cape Girardeau County, Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said Wednesday.

A proposal to put planning and zoning before county voters is proceeding with slow deliberation, Jones told the Cape Girardeau Lions Club.

A 10-member planning commission has been meeting since December 1996.

"This is a very common-sense group of people, and I feel they will come up with a very common-sense group of recommendations," Jones said.

Once the committee drafts a proposal, it will be presented to the Cape Girardeau County Commission. The commission will review the ideas and make recommendations to the public.

"We will hold public hearings and those sorts of things," said Jones. "Then you will vote on it," he said.

He predicted an election in April 1999.

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 in the process. Opponents feared the plan as written would have resulted in over-regulation.

Over-regulation is not the goal of the county's three commissioners, Jones said.

In 1997 the commission gained power to enact county ordinances as part of the county's move to first-class status. The county enacted one ordinance that year: the bonding authority for the Procter and Gamble plant expansion.

Jones said county government doesn't hesitate to take action when needed. He cited as an example a needed expansion of the county jail.

The county spent $150,000 last year to house prisoners at other county jails. The Cape Girardeau County Jail is full. Architectural drawings are in the final stages, the commissioner said. Jones expects the addition to cost about $5 million.

"We are taking our time with this also," he said. "When we do something, we want to do it right. We want to be careful that we don't build something that is full as soon as it opens."

County officials are also looking at building a new juvenile justice center. The detention center has just 10 cells and is out-of-date, Jones said.

The commissioner said the outlook for the county is positive. County revenue looks strong for 1998. It is expected to exceed expenditures by $400,000.

Jones credited the 18 elected county officials and six department heads.

"We have the best county government in the state of Missouri," he said.