PLANNING AND ZONING: RURAL RESIDENTS HAVE OTHER OPTIONS

DELTA, Mo. -- Cape Girardeau County's proposed planning and zoning regulations could prompt rural residents to incorporate into towns to avoid them, a leading opponent of the Nov. 7 ballot issue said at a meeting Thursday night.

Whitewater, Mo., area resident Doug Flannery suggested new towns could pop up to avoid the regulations if voters approve county planning.

The proposed planning and zoning regulations would apply only to unincorporated areas of the county.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones told the crowd of about 50 people at Delta High School that rural residents could go through the legal steps to turn their rural ground into incorporated areas.

However, property owners couldn't incorporate if an existing city within two miles of the area objected to it.

But he said property owners in the Lake Girardeau area, for example, could incorporate if they wanted to go through the legal procedures.

Flannery, who is running for First District commissioner, said the ballot measure to establish planning has created "a lot of angry people" in the county.

Some opponents accused the County Commission and the temporary planning committee that drafted the proposed planning and zoning regulations of trying to keep mobile homes out of the rural areas.

"We're not against mobile homes," Jones replied.

Roger Arnzen, director of county mapping and appraisal, assisted the temporary planning commission in developing the proposed regulations.

"The committee is not saying you can't put a mobile home in the county," he said. County planning, he said, would encourage mobile homes be placed in mobile home parks in the future.

The zoning regulations would treat houses and mobile homes the same, requiring a minimum of three acres for dwellings outside of subdivisions or mobile home parks.

John Dudley, chairman of the temporary planning commission, said the proposed regulation is based upon state Department of Natural Resources regulations that require a minimum of three acres for septic systems.

Cape Girardeau County farmer John Lorberg, who served on the temporary planning commission, said planning and zoning could be good for the county.

"I think it will give us orderly planning," he said.

After the meeting, First District Commissioner Larry Bock said planning and zoning won't address junk cars, weeds and other nuisance complaints.

Bock said the County Commission is considering an enacting a nuisance ordinance to address such issues.