FOREST HILLS REZONING RETURNS

After months of fighting to get property on North Sprigg rezoned, it seemed Holigan Homes officials accepted their proposed subdivision's R-1 status.

Not anymore.

The group will come before Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission tonight asking for R-2 zoning in Forest Hills Subdivision, to be developed by Dallas-based Holigan Homes. The proposed neighborhood sits near the corner of the Sprigg Street extension and Bertling Street.

At stake is lot size. Although both R-1 and R-2 districts are for single-family homes, the R-1 designation requires lots to be at least 10,000 square feet. An R-2 lot can be only 7,000 square feet.

When an engineer hired by Holigan Homes designed Forest Hills, it was expected the area would be rezoned. With R-2 zoning, the subdivision had 159 lots. The original R-1 zoning would mean 41 fewer lots.

That means more cost to the buyer, said Harold Lineberry, and less affordable housing in Cape Girardeau. The homes originally were expected to sell for about $100,000 each.

"We have a ton of money invested in those lots," Lineberry said. "It will be a major deal to develop them. We have to move a lot of dirt and bring in water and sewer lines."

He said the rezoning issue failed in Planning and Zoning earlier this year because of neighborhood objections. This time, Holigan Homes has done some public-relations work with neighbors, explaining what plans for Forest Hills are.

"We have some people on our side who will be at the meeting," Lineberry said. "We'll probably still have some opposition, but we made a real effort to get out and visit with the neighbors."

Richard Renfrow is one neighbor who plans to be part of the opposition. He owns land adjoining the proposed subdivision and said an R-2 zoning eventually would turn the area into "a ghost town, like South Cape."

"Small houses on small lots -- when they get old, they are just abandoned," Renfrow said. "All the lots in the area now are one, two or three acres. There's plenty of room around those houses."