Planning and zoning board to discuss roads, land use

With a public hearing just a week away, members of Cape Girardeau's planning and zoning commission are meeting for a comprehensive plan study session tonight.

Rather than taking on the entire document, which is more than 300 pages long, the group will focus on transportation and land use.

Cape Girardeau city manager Doug Leslie said he expects to attend, along with development services director Ken Eftink and city planner Martha Brown. A representative from the St. Louis-based consulting firm Arcturis, Bill Burke, is also scheduled to attend, Leslie said.

Skip Smallwood, former planning and zoning commission chairman and currently a member of the board, said he's particularly interested in discussing roads.

He's said he's curious to learn how the city's priorities for Transportation Trust Fund spending match Arcturis' recommendations.

He also wants to know if there's a way to pull Armstrong Drive through unincorporated county land to reach Jackson and U.S. 61.

"The thing I'm going to keep bringing up is Kingshighway. I remember 10 years ago, MoDOT talked to us about the clutter," he said, referring to the number of driveways in and out of businesses along that route. "I'm just amazed there aren't more accidents with people coming in and out."

Another road drawing attention, he said, is Mount Auburn Road between Independence Street and Kingshighway.

"There's been talk of stop lights and widening the road. It's very tight, especially if you want to put sidewalks in," Smallwood said. He also wants to know more about bike lane plans being promoted by two Cape Girardeau groups.

"What percent of bike riders do we have in this town? I don't know," he said. "What aren't we hearing?"

The planning and zoning commission study session, at 5:30 p.m. today at the Osage Community Centre, 1625 N. Kingshighway, is open to the public.

A public hearing on the city's draft comprehensive plan is set for the board's regular meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at city hall.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127