P&Z RECOMMENDS A NEW BUS STATION SITE

Cape Girardeau apparently will have a new site for the Greyhound Bus Co. station.

At a meeting Wednesday, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the city council approve a special use permit to place the bus station at a convenience store at 305 N. Frederick St.

About 13 months ago, Greyhound opened a full-service station at Don's Store 24, a convenience store and gas station on the corner of Morgan Oak and Sprigg.

But William Miller, area manager for Greyhound's St. Louis region, told the Planning and Zoning Commission that the current site doesn't have sufficient space to allow buses to load and unload passengers "off-street."

"What we're trying to do, first of all and most important, is service our people in Cape Girardeau with a little better service," Miller said.

The Greyhound official said the new agent will be Philip Hodges, who owns the Fill-Up Mart at 305 N. Frederick. Miller said Hodges, who also operates a convenience store in Cairo, is that city's Greyhound agent as well.

"He knows the bus business," Miller said. "At the same time, we're moving it closer to the university, and we can get our buses unloaded and loaded off the street.

"This way we'll be able to park the bus on the property and serve the people better."

Miller said Hodges has agreed to keep the convenience store open late enough to service passengers on the 11:05 p.m. bus, the last of the day in Cape Girardeau.

He said after the meeting that Don Caldwell, the owner of Don's Store 24 and the current Greyhound agent in Cape Girardeau, is amenable to the change.

"He wants to operate a gas station and convenience store," said Miller. "I think he knows what the concerns are, and he's ready to have it move."

When Greyhound agreed to place the station at Caldwell's business at the corner of Sprigg and Morgan Oak, it ended months of limbo that followed the July 1991 closure of the bus terminal at Spanky's convenience store, 353 S. Kingshighway.

The Spanky's site was the fourth bus station to open and close since the Union Bus Depot at 16 N. Frederick, which had operated the Greyhound station since 1947, closed during a nationwide Greyhound bus strike in 1990.

After the Union Bus Depot closed, a new station opened at a convenience store at 1101 William St. but closed five months later after neighbors complained of traffic problems and noise.

The bus station reopened in September 1990 in a renovated building across from Kelley Transportation Co. on Sprigg Street. That station then closed in June 1991.

A month later, Spanky's reopened the bus station. But only five days later, the facility was closed because the site was improperly zoned.

Greyhound then contracted for limited bus service to the city, using the former station site across from Kelley Transportation.

In other business at Wednesday's meeting, the commission recommended approval of:

The request of Georgell Investments Inc. for a special use permit for a gardening supply retail store and greenhouse at #10 Plaza Way, 1901 Independence St.

20The preliminary plats of Foundation Park in the 800 block of South Kingshighway and Park West Heights subdivision, and Second Park West Professional Plaza along Silver Springs Road, south of Independence Street.

The sketch plan for Bouldercrest Subdivision north of Carolewood Estates.

20Resubdivision of part of Hanover Estates west of Perryville Road and Chalet Trace along Hopper Road, west of Kage.