Downtown Cape improvement district discussed

Roughly 30 business owners, property owners and Downtown Community Improvement District steering committee members met Wednesday night to answer lingering questions about the proposed district.

"We're all here for the same reason," said committee chairman Jim Maurer, "and that's because we care about the downtown area and think downtown Cape is a special area."

The problem, he continued, is that each business and property owner has different views about the best way to take care of downtown.

The CID would pay for daily trash pickup, patrolling security and overall maintenance of the area through sales and property taxes imposed within its boundaries, but many in attendance said these services should be provided by the city.

"Why are we taxing ourselves? The city should be doing this," said property owner David Goncher.

David Hutson, downtown business and property owner and member of the CID board of directors, said he completely agreed with Goncher.

He, too, would like to see more city assistance for downtown, but said the reality is the city has a large area to cover and likely not enough resources to answer every request.

"When you know the situation, you deal with it and try to make it better, and that's the goal," Hutson said.

And taking care of downtown through a self-imposed tax is not a new idea, he pointed out. A special business district created about 30 years ago implemented a $0.6708 property tax -- identical to the property tax proposed by the CID -- along portions of Spanish, Main and Water streets. Those funds paid for lighting, benches, planters and additional parking space downtown.

Hutson said if that district had not been created it's difficult to imagine where the downtown area would be today. The benefits it has provided to the area are obvious, but it's limited in the services it can fund. None of the funds generated by its property tax can be put toward maintenance, for example.

The idea, he said, is for the CID to become an extension of the special business district, which will dissolve if the property tax and half-cent sales tax are approved by registered voters in the district.

Because the CID boundaries extend beyond those of the special business district, a few residential properties were included in the area. Maurer said when the committee was drawing the lines, it attempted to cut out as many residential areas as possible and leave out those who expressed interest in being left out of the district.

For those residential property owners who do not wish to be included in the district, he said there are options. Should the 150 registered voters of the district approve the measure, Maurer said property owners may petition the board of directors to have their property removed. While the decision rests with the board, he said those living on the edge of the CID boundaries will likely see more success if they petition; those living in the heart of the boundaries could not be removed as the district must be contiguous.

While some business and property owners still had doubts that the CID was the best option to improve the downtown area, at least one person left with a different view of the issue. After hearing Hutson's explanation of the CID and how it would be an extension of efforts already being made to take care of downtown, Goncher said he understood why the committee believed it would bring improvements to the area.

"I was against it when I walked in," he said. " ... But now I think it's a hell of an idea."

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

235 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.