Design guidelines for proposed Cape historic district tabled

The drive to create Cape Girardeau's first residential historic district has hit a snag. At issue is whether the city will create a parking permit system for a particular neighborhood and define what constitutes a single family.

Mike Sheehan, who is leading the effort to establish the Boulevard Historic District, said he was willing to compromise on those items, but some issues are non-negotiable. City officials have suggested residents of the proposed district form a compliance board that would be responsible for enforcing design guidelines.

"We're not going to be a regulatory association," Sheehan said, adding, "It's still our position that because we're willing to give up some rights as home¿owners, we deserve special consideration for parking and single-family dwellings."

Once design guidelines are approved by the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission, the planning and zoning commission will review the plan and make a recommendation to the city council. If the city council approves the plan, the Boulevard Historic District would become the city's first local historic register district.

Such a designation is a way of "showing the city that you have a real commitment to your neighborhood and that it's a distinctive place," said Steven Hoffman, professor of history and coordinator of the historic preservation program at Southeast Missouri State University.

"It's one of the ways of ensuring stable property value," Hoffman said. Studies have shown that neighborhoods with a design review process tend to rise in value or remain stable, he said.

On Wednesday, the historic preservation commission unanimously agreed to table the guidelines, listed in a 12-page document, until a committee can review it and make changes. The committee will include city officials, members of the commission and residents of the proposed district.

The Boulevard Local Historic District is a mostly residential neighborhood that includes most of the area bounded by Broadway, North West End Boulevard and North Henderson Avenue and extending north to Woodland Drive.

Richard Reinhardt, a city planning technician who recorded the historic preservation commissions meeting minutes Wednesday, said more than 15 residents attended the public hearing on the design guidelines. While many supported the notion of preserving the neighborhood, not everyone agreed with how to go about it, he said. One woman said she did not want the district at all because she is opposed having to ask permission from a board to make changes to her home.

City attorney Eric Cunningham had suggested eliminating specific provisions, such as permit-only parking -- the city completed a protracted study earlier this year of parking problems in neighborhoods around the university. Ultimately, parking fines were raised across the city and new signs were posted in the neighborhoods around the university.

Cunningham also recommending striking a paragraph that would define a single-family household as having no more than two surnames. Sheehan said the measure was included to prevent homes from being rented to groups of college students. But Cunningham said the design guidelines must stay within the framework of architecture and other aesthetics, not venture into the realm of ordinances requiring police enforcement.

The historic commission's meeting Wednesday ran unusually long for a single topic -- 90 minutes instead of the usual hour covering several topics -- before all sides agreed to revisit the rules.

"We had some good healthy discussion about the proposed design guidelines," said Ken Eftink, director of development services and assistant city manager. "The commission didn't want to rush this through."

He said the suggestion to establish a neighborhood regulatory committee was intended to be "a system of education for people moving into the neighborhood."

The next historic district commission meeting is at 7 p.m. Jan. 21 at city hall, 401 Independence St.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646