JACKSON SCHEDULES BLOCK GRANT HEARING

JACKSON - The Jackson Board of Aldermen set a February date for a public hearing on the city's 1993 Community Development Block Grant application for the Ward 4 area.

In addition, the board authorized the purchase of three city vehicles and adopted a number of ordinances during its Tuesday meeting. The meeting was moved to Tuesday because of a legal holiday on Monday.

The public hearing for the Community Development Block Grant for neighborhood development will be held Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m., at City Hall. During the hearing details of the grant will be explained to residents in the application area.

The city is preparing an application for a maximum, two-year grant of $800,000 ($400,000 a year) for street construction and improvements. In addition, grants will be made available to qualified owners of substandard housing who live in the grant application zone.

The grant application zone is located in Ward 4 in the northeast central part of the city. It is in one of the oldest neighborhoods in Jackson. City officials say there are a large number of older citizens on fixed incomes and low-income families who live in the area.

The zone is bounded on the south by Florence Street, on the east by Maryland and Greensferry Road, on the north by Olive and Hickory streets, and on the west by North Hope and Hubble Creek. Streets within the grant application zone include North Ohio, North Georgia, Nellie, Emma, Greensferry Road, Forest, Hickory, Maple, East Independence and Walnut.

If the block grant application is approved in June, the city plans to widen and pave Greensferry Road from North Hope to August Street and to extend and pave North Hope Street from its dead end northward to connect with Independence, and possibly, to Hickory and Olive. Olive would be paved to Greensferry Road.

Residents of the Ward 4 area who live in, or near, the grant application area are urged to attend the public hearing.

The aldermen also adopted ordinances to:

Establish a $1 fee per court case to help fund the Women's Safe House in Cape Girardeau. This is in addition to a fee already assessed by the court for the crime victims fund.

Amend the city budget to include minor changes in fund balances.

Authorize the mayor to sign a contract with the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association as part of Jackson's participation in the association.

Establish the First National Bank of Cape Girardeau as the city's depository for a one-year period.

Approve the rezoning of a tract of land on August Street from M-1 to R-1 for residential development.

The board also approved first reading of an ordinance to rezone the Little Schumer Number Five subdivision from M-1 to R-1, but tabled the second and third reading of the ordinance until Feb. 1. The planning and zoning commission will meet in special session to resolve a question that have arisen concerning the use of a parcel of land near the tract for a possible cul de sac.

The board also approved the purchase of a used, 1988 pickup truck for the city landfill, and the purchase of two cars from state purchasing agency for $12,529. One of the cars will go to the police department. The other will be used by the city administrator and his staff.