New Cape ordinance would open parking near former federal building

Every few months, Thomas M. Meyer will fire off an email to Cape Girardeau City Council member Kathy Swan. The downtown business owner isn't afraid to ask a question, make a comment or even occasionally offer up suggestions about changes that he feels would be good for the city.

This time it appears to have worked.

An email Meyer sent to Swan last month is on the verge of implementing a change that he thinks should have been made years ago -- opening up parking again along Broadway and Fountain Street near the old federal building.

An ordinance has been prepared that would eliminate the current no-parking zone, which city officials say will open as many as 15 spaces to allow residents to visit downtown businesses. The city council is slated to introduce the bill at its meeting Monday night.

"I didn't think I'd get credit for that," said Meyer, owner of Exit Realty/Thomas Meyer Associates. "I just emailed Kathy Swan and asked her why is there no parking there when the building isn't occupied and hasn't been used by the federal government in a few years? I was surprised that it hadn't been addressed."

Parking has been prohibited on the south side of Broadway in front of the former federal building at 339 Broadway and along the building's eastern North Fountain Street side for nearly a decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The installation of no-parking signs was the result of an agreement between the city and the federal government, which was requiring parking be removed near many government buildings to safeguard against terrorist attacks.

But in 2008, the new $50 million Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse replaced the Broadway building as a federal building after it largely sat vacant.

"We're always talking about needing parking downtown, and here's two streets," Meyer said. "When I come down Broadway, I've got to fight for the few spaces that are available."

Meyer's wasn't the first request. Public works director Tim Gramling said several requests have been made over the years to remove the parking restriction once the building was no longer occupied. City manager Scott Meyer contacted the General Services Administration, which oversees government buildings. The GSA reported it does not have an issue with the parking being restored.

"It's strictly up to the council, but there's no reason to keep it no-parking that we can see," Gramling said. "Parking's always an issue, and even with this back, it probably will be. If you talk to most businesses, the perception is there's never enough parking."

The additional parking would only provide 14 or 15 spots, Gramling said. The ordinance specifically amends the no-parking zone on the east side of Fountain Street, nearly 200 feet from Broadway to the private drive to the parking lot behind the former federal building. On Broadway's south side, the parking will be allowed at North Fountain Street and extend east for 138 feet.

Removing the parking ban, some say, is long overdue. Gramling said the delay was caused because the government agencies moved out incrementally.

"We talked about it when it was first vacated, but they weren't totally out of there," Gramling said. "Then we wanted to sort of wait and see what was going to happen with the rest of the offices. With recent events, it's a little more obvious it's not going to be used for anything like that again."

The GSA has the building for sale at online auction. City and county officials have intermittently -- for a while together -- been interested in acquiring the building, but the suggested minimum bid of $725,000 has them both looking at other options.

Swan, for her part, said that when she got Meyer's email, she wondered the same thing: "Why haven't we done something with that? I don't know if we just forgot about it or if the city had a reason for leaving it the way it is."

Unless there's more to the story, Swan said, she favors putting parking back on those streets.

"I find myself always on Broadway, circling," she said. "There are a limited number of parking spaces."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO