CVB WILL CONSIDER RV PARK FOR CAPE

Is an RV park in Red Star's future?

A committee will be formed to explore the possibility of locating an RV park near downtown Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Committee decided Wednesday.

Walt Wildman, an advisory board member, proposed starting the committee, he said, because there are no RV parks in town. He said land the city acquired in the flood buyout in Red Star would be a good place for it because it is near the river and downtown.

One committee member will be Don Hill, general manager of Capetown RV Sales. Hill said the nearest sites with RV hookups are in East Cape Girardeau, Ill., and Trail of Tears State Park, but the nearest full-service hookups are in Perryville.

People who travel in RVs don't stay in motels or hotels and will not visit places that cannot accommodate them. He said those staying in East Cape Girardeau may not want to cross the bridge into Missouri. "Crossing the bridge is a big hassle," Hill said. "I've driven one for 20 years, and I don't like it."

Hill said the hookups at Trail of Tears are often full.

Having an RV park in a flood plain is no problem, Hill said. "When the waters are rising, it's easy to tell them, hey, it's time to leave."

Hill said the RV park would not be a big money maker in itself but could attract people to Cape Girardeau who might not otherwise spend their money here.

The board did not name all the committee members at the meeting. The committee has to determine whether the property the city acquired can legally be used for an RV park. It could also look at other sites if Red Star is not feasible.

In other business, the board:

-- Discussed the possible purchase of the old Boatmen's Bank building at 100 Broadway. Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Mary Miller said Nationsbank and the city discussed a purchase price of $150,000. The bureau would pay half of that from its building fund.

But Miller said the purchase is not a done deal. The city needs to thoroughly inspect the building to make sure it is structurally sound and to make sure remodeling and asbestos abatement won't be too expensive.

-- Received a memo from City Manager Michael Miller about the restaurant tax. After a report from the bureau questioned why 14 establishments were not paying the restaurant tax, the city found that five should have been paying and have since started paying. They are Lacey's on the Hill, Ruby Tuesday, St. Louis Bread Company, Whitfield's Fine Dining and Peppy's Sports Bar. The last just started serving food.

Others were paying under other names or did not need to.

Board member Dan Drury questioned why Target is exempt from the tax while motels have to pay it. The memo stated that Target's snack bar doesn't have to pay the tax because it is "not chiefly engaged in the selling of meals."

"The Holiday Inn's restaurant is not the Holiday Inn's chief business," said Drury, who owns the local Holiday Inn. "It's an amenity."

Drury said the tax isn't fair and said the City Council should revise it. The other members present agreed.