JACKSON MULLS RULES FOR BUILDERS

JACKSON -- New regulations providing for stormwater drainage and detention and are being worked out by the City of Jackson with the goal of passage by the Board of Aldermen in the fall.

The city's Planning & Zoning Commission also soon will begin considering amendments that will require developers to complete a subdivision's infrastructure before they can begin building houses.

The amendments are part of a 35-page list of changes to the Land Subdivision Regulations the commission was to begin debating Wednesday but tabled until August to work on some of the language.

The commission then will set a public hearing on the amendments before presenting them to the Board of Aldermen.

The storm drainage, detention and erosion control portions of the amendments are the top priorities and if necessary would be broken out of the package of amendments to be put before the Board of Aldermen, Public Works Director Jim Roach says.

Jackson does not have regulations governing stormwater drainage and detention. Developers have been asked to abide by state stormwater regulations. Though the Wal-Mart and Buchheit stores did so, Roach said few developers have voluntarily complied with the state regulations.

"We haven't had much participation," he said. "The reason is, it costs them more money."

The City of Cape Girardeau is revising its stormwater ordinance, and Cape Girardeau County is working on its own regulations in tandem with Jackson.

Roach said drafts of the proposed regulations have been sent to some developers. He hopes the new stormwater rules will be in effect by fall.

Other proposed amendments to the Land Subdivision Regulations cover building permits, as-built plans, street and infrastructure testing and inspection, excavation installation and compaction, improvement guarantees, street and sidewalk construction and street signage.

Another part of the proposal going before the Planning & Zoning Commission Wednesday requires completion and acceptance of the infrastructure for the subdivision before a building permit is issued, along with submission of the maintenance guarantee and submission of as-built plans.

Currently, a subdivision developer can receive a building permit from the City of Jackson if the street the lots are on has been paved and an affidavit has been signed by the owner. But officials say developers are not finishing the remainder of the infrastructure "in a timely manner."

Roach said the city wants to go back to requirements that previously were in effect but were eased a few years ago.

"Some things have been piecemealed together," he said.

Rodney Bollinger, the city's planning and zoning official, said the regulation was changed at the suggestion of a developer who wanted to build the houses and infrastructure simultaneously.

But in one case, Bollinger said, a developer has been slow to finish his subdivision infrastructure.

"There is no incentive for the guy to get it done because he's getting building permits," Bollinger said. "A developer ought to finish what he started before he gets building permits."