Privacy, history, ducks debated in Bloomfield Road case

Owners of land that once was part of a historic estate took issue with the city of Cape Girardeau’s plans to widen Bloomfield Road and build a walking trail during a court hearing Tuesday.

The hearing before Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis in Common Pleas Circuit Court involved testimony about everything from historical springs and pond ducks to a Dalhousie golf-cart path.

After a lengthy hearing, Lewis took the case under advisement.

At issue is how much Patrick Evans, who owns the old Elmwood estate, and his sister, Mary Evans Auer, who lives nearby, should receive from the city for the taking of property they own along Bloomfield Road in a condemnation case.

The city plans to widen the road and build a walking trail from the Benton Hill Road (County Road 206) intersection to White Oaks Lane near the Dalhousie Golf Club.

The judge ruled in May the city could take the land needed for the project.

Three commissioners, who were appointed by the judge, determined a value for the land.

Commissioners Herb Annis, Ralph Hendrickson and Kathy Bertrand filed their report with the circuit court June 29, setting compensation for about two acres of Elmwood Farms property at $55,030 and a much smaller tract of Auer’s land at $8,760.

James F. Waltz, a Cape Girardeau lawyer who represents Evans and Auer, filed a motion, contending the city should pay 50 percent more in compensation because of the “heritage value” of the land.

The land being taken by the city does not include Elmwood, the historic house of one of Cape Girardeau’s pioneer families and later the home of famed civic leader Louis Houck.

At the hearing, Evans and Auer testified the road project would change their properties dramatically.

Waltz said the road and trail project would damage his clients’ land, including removing a number of large trees.

“The entrance to Elmwood would be substantially changed,” Waltz told the judge.

Evans said road improvements also would eliminate an ancient spring on the property.

“The city will drain out the spring,” he said.

The planned 8-foot-wide, asphalt walking trail would run in front of an antique gate at the entrance to Elmwood, Evans testified.

“I will have to drive over the trail to get in and out,” Evans said.

Evans said he is trying to market Elmwood as a historic property.

Local historian Frank Nickell testified about the historic value of the land.

“This is one of the most historic sites in the entire region of Southeast Missouri,” he said.

Nickell said widening Bloomfield Road and constructing a walking trail would damage “the historical integrity of the property.”

Evans said construction of a walking trail would lessen his privacy and could result in curious hikers and cyclists coming on to his property.

But under cross-examination from Mary Boner of Jackson, the lawyer for the city, Evans revealed he previously sold nearly 1,000 acres for the adjacent Dalhousie Golf Club.

Evans, who has 43 percent ownership in the golf course, acknowledged a golf-cart path runs across his property and is closer to his home than the trail would be.

Boner questioned how a trail could be “any more intrusive” than a golf-cart path.

But Evans said golfers have not endangered his privacy.

“The people who play golf know what is up there, and they don’t come up there,” Evans said.

Auer, who inherited her part of the family estate in 1970, testified she was not opposed to widening the road, only building the trail.

She said her house is within 300 feet of the proposed trail easement. She testified the trail would “go over” her spring-fed pond, which is home to ducks.

“I don’t understand how they can put a walking trail over my pond,” Auer said.

“I worry about my safety. It is very close to my home,” she added.

City engineer Casey Brunke testified plans call for installation of a fence along a section of the pond.

But she insisted under questioning from Waltz the fence was not being proposed because of any safety concern.

Brunke said the trail would come within “two to three feet” of the pond.

Auer said she worries about her liability if someone on the trail falls into her pond. She said she would be concerned about “finding somebody dead in my pond.”

The Bloomfield Road improvement is a project on the Transportation Trust Fund list, a street improvement plan approved by voters.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.