Joint subdivision panel believes in keeping final document simple

Passage of a proposal to regulate subdivisions in parts of Cape Girardeau County relies in part on the document being as easy to understand as possible, a committee considering the issue said Tuesday.

Since Feb. 3, members of the Cape Girardeau-Jackson Joint Subdivision Advisory Committee have met once a month to develop a draft of recommended regulations it would present to the county commission. On Tuesday the committee met again to discuss the 16-page document that includes rules and requirements on street widths, maximum block length, sewer and water.

Committee member Charlie Haubold suggested the document may need to be reduced to as few as eight pages.

"The more we can condense and simplify, the better," Haubold said during the meeting at Jackson City Hall. "You've got to simplify the thing."

Once finalized, the set of regulations would be presented to the county commission, which would decide whether to place the formation of a county planning commission on a ballot. The planning commission would serve as a recommending body to the county commission, who would approve the subdivision regulations in the end.

Cape Girardeau County District 1 Commissioner Paul Koeper said voters likely would vote no on the issue if the vote were held now.

The attitude of voters is "they're trying to regulate more of what I'm doing," Koeper said. "If we want to do this we've got to get the point across to people that it is not about making you do anything else.

"You're going to end up living in a subdivision that's going to be well-built, the infrastructure that will be put in properly," he said. "... We are telling you we want the infrastructure in right in case the cities grow out to this point and you want to be annexed in."

As the committee works toward a final document, Haubold said the set of regulations should focus on the areas of streets, storm water retention, sewer and water.

"That's the infrastructure of every subdivision," he said. "If you don't have any of those, you don't have a subdivision."

The next meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. June 8 at the Osage Community Centre.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

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