Medical offices drawing opposition

Southeast Missourian

JACKSON, Mo. -- Concerns about additional traffic near a school and commercial uses in a residential neighborhood have sparked opposition to a proposed development of medical offices in Jackson.

The Southeast Missouri Medical Center Inc. plans to market the property to medical and dental practitioners and related services. Another possibility the nonprofit corporation discussed before the Planning and Zoning Commission is for part of the land to be used for assisted living quarters similar to Chateau Girardeau in Cape Girardeau.

Despite its name, the Southeast Missouri Medical Center Inc. is not planning to build a medical center. It instead would sell plats. Officials say one person in the health care field already is interested in locating an office on the property.

The 19.1-acre property at the southwest corner of West Independence Street and Broadridge Drive is zoned for residential. Under the city's 1998 Comprehensive Plan, its future use is designated as residential. The medical center is seeking a change the zoning to C-1, which designates a local commercial district.

Opponents are concerned that rezoning the property commercial means the owners would not be limited to just medical offices. The C-1 zoning is the most restrictive commercial zoning, allowing only retail trade and personal services catering to nearby residents. Some uses include food stores, bakeries, drug stores, restaurants (no drive-throughs), barber shops, beauty shops, laundries and banks.

'It's a community thing'

The corporation has invited neighbors to join an architectural committee to determine what will go in the project.

"We don't care if we have the top vote on that," says Dr. T. Wayne Lewis, the corporation president. "It's a community thing."

After rezoning opponents presented the Planning and Zoning Commission with a petition they said contained 100 signatures, more than an hour of discussion ensued at a Sept. 12 meeting. Some speakers opposed the development; others favored a special-use permit.

Afterward the commission voted 6-2 to recommend the zoning change. The Jackson Board of Aldermen will hold their own public hearing on the issue at the board's Oct. 15 meeting.

Yolanda Dugan, who lives nearby at the corner of Alpine and Aspen, questioned why a medical development needs a commercial zoning instead of a special-use permit.

"If that's what they want it to be and not a convenience store, what difference does it make?" she asked.

At the P&Z hearing, Dr. Dwight Johnson, the corporation's treasurer, said it is seeking a commercial rezoning because every new doctor who locates in the center would have to return to the P&Z Commission and the Board of Aldermen for revised permits under a special-use permit.

Both opponents and corporation officials note that special-use permits were issued instead of a zoning change for a much smaller proposed development nearby on Broadridge a few years ago. The permits have never been used. Lewis said it is difficult to sell people property when they know their ability to resell it is limited.

P&Z Commission Chairwoman Barbara Lohr said the existence of other medical facilities in the area -- Jackson Family Clinic at 545 Broadridge Drive and the Jackson Manor nursing home at 710 Broadridge -- led the majority of the commission to approve the rezoning.

"We thought it was a good use of the land," she said.

The commission is always concerned about the impact a development will have on traffic, particularly near a school, Lohr said.

"We do look at that as a negative, but sometimes other uses of the land would be worse for traffic," she said.

She included residential development in that category.

Schools have no position

Lois Englehart, one of nine people who spoke against the rezoning at the planning and zoning hearing, was concerned about ability of emergency workers to get through the streets when school traffic is heaviest.

Four schools are in the general area of the proposed development.

Dr. Ronald Anderson, superintendent of the Jackson R-2 School District, said the schools have been informed about the proposal but have decided they do not need to take a position on the issue. The schools are more concerned about the effect of a different proposal that could put truck traffic on West Lane, which would affect district schools, Anderson said.

Lewis said the corporation is always working toward the best interests of Jackson. It most recently bought an ambulance and a defibrillator for the city. "Our money is to be put back into the community," he said.

"We're not trying to bulldoze through something," Lewis said of the project. "We're trying to do something that would be good for the community."

Opponents can make rezoning more difficult by gathering signatures from those who would be most affected by the development. If the owners of 30 percent of the property within 185 feet of the project protest the commercial rezoning, approval would require a yes vote by three-fourths of the Board of Aldermen. Eighteen property owners live within 185 feet of the project's boundary.

Johnson told the P&Z Commission the corporation does not intend to go to war with the community over the rezoning.

Lewis said the corporation will not proceed with the medical uses unless it receives a commercial zoning. "If it didn't go that way we would probably sell it to some developer," he said. "We're not here to fight."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182