Jackson aldermen set two hearings on rezoning requests

The Jackson Board of Aldermen on Monday night set two public hearings to field comments about rezoning a number of city tracts from residential to commercial use.

Applications to rezone several lots in the Nine Oaks subdivision were made by B&R Developers LLC of Jackson, Ron and Marcia Clark, Bobby and Jane Clark, Clark & Sons Excavating LLC of Jackson, Southeast Missouri Medical Center Inc. and the Jackson Area Baseball Association.

The neighborhood contains the baseball park Whitey Herzog Stadium, which is commercially zoned. In order to approve the planning request that allowed the field, the city stipulated that owners maintain a 120-foot buffer of residentially zoned land where it bordered existing residential lots.

The owners recently requested that the buffer requirement be eliminated, then amended their request and asked that the buffer be decreased to 25 feet. Janet Sanders, building and planning superintendent for Jackson, reported to the aldermen that the planning and zoning commission recommended that a 60-foot buffer remain.

If all the requested changes were approved, Sanders said, more than half of the neighborhood, including the majority of the property from Aberdeen Circle to Hubble Creek, would be zoned for commercial use.

Ward 3 Alderman Mark Dambach said he was concerned that changing the zoning requirements would renege on promises made to residents when the plans were approved to create the baseball park.

In another zoning request, James E. Wagoner asked that his roughly quarter-acre residential lot at 417 S. Farmington Road be rezoned to allow general commercial use.

Sanders said Wagoner does not intend to create a "commercial development of his own" on the site. It was obtained as a remnant from a Missouri Department of Transportation highway widening program and the owner "wants it zoned the same as the rest of his lot," which is commercial, she said.

Both public hearings were set for 7 p.m. May 21.

Other action

* Aldermen approved a motion authorizing the city to request reimbursement for police department overtime hours through two Missouri Department of Transportation programs, the Missouri Highway Safety Division's Hazardous Moving Violation Enforcement Program and the Missouri Highway Safety Division's DWI Enforcement Program. Lt. Scott Eakers of the Jackson Police Department said officers can voluntarily sign up for overtime hours spent in enforcement of hazardous moving violations, such as speeding, and in DWI patrols and checkpoints. Eakers said the programs are effective and result in a significant number of arrests.

* The board approved a services agreement and task order authorization for $31,662 with Geosyntec Consultants of Columbia, Mo., to provide engineering services to address metals in the city's wastewater discharge.

* Aldermen approved a task order authorization for $49,300 to Horner & Shifrin Inc. of St. Louis to provide engineering services toward resolving issues with rusty water in the Forest Acres Subdivision.

salderman@semissourian.com

388-3648

Pertinent address:

101 Court St., Jackson, MO