REISDENTS URGE CITY COUNCIL TO COMPLETE KENT STREET PLAN

Kent Street has sparked a number of debates over the last six years and may be the cause of many more to come.

One Cape Girardeau resident indicated the issue won't be settled until Kent reaches Lexington Avenue, as its original development plan showed it would.

The Cape Girardeau City Council heard from two people Monday night who have a great interest in Kent. One, Dr. David Westrich, wants it extended so traffic on Belleridge Pike -- one of two roads out of Randol Farms Subdivision -- will be lessened. The other, Randol Farms developer David Gerlach, thinks the extension is unnecessary. The city can build the road, he said, but can forget the idea that he will pay for it.

Councilman Melvin Gateley asked that the Kent Street extension be placed on Monday's agenda for discussion. At the council's study session prior to the regular meeting, Gateley compared the street's history to a yo-yo: It has been a matter of council discussion for years, coming up the last time in September.

Westrich said he and his wife moved to a house on Belleridge Pike in spring 1989. Lexington was in the works at that time. Westrich was assured that Kent Street, which runs parallel to Belleridge, would connect with Lexington.

He saw Kent Street come before the council in 1990, 1992 and 1994. On all three occasions, those who owned land along the proposed Kent extension asked that it be taken off the city's capital improvement plan. The council refused.

"Now we who live on Belleridge find ourselves being the only exit out of the subdivision," Westrich said. "It's time to put this issue to rest."

Gerlach agreed that the issue should be settled, but not at his expense.

He said the city cost him money by forcing him to buy a portion of the property where Lexington is now. The original idea was to provide an additional road into and out of Randol Farms Subdivision.

Gerlach bought the land and was assessed for Lexington improvements. He said the city then changed the engineering on Lexington, raising it several feet.

"The roofs of houses I would build on the Kent extension would be below Lexington," he said. "I'm a good salesman, but I don't think I can sell that. The change in engineering dramatically devalued my property."

Gerlach said he is giving the council fair warning: The city is welcome to purchase right of way from him for Kent, but he probably won't pay the special tax assessment when the road is finished. He may even take the matter to court, he said, claiming that the city can't legally assess him for the extension because it doesn't benefit his property.

Gerlach said Abbey Road provides adequate access to his subdivision.

Even so, the council unofficially decided to go ahead with plans to build the road. The engineering already is finished.

"This body did place Kent on the capital improvements plan, so I assume we will go forward," Gateley said.

In other action, the council defeated a political-sign ordinance after three months of consideration.

At the Sept. 16 meeting, Councilman Tom Neumeyer proposed a law designed to limit the placement of signs. He wanted them kept off all public property, including city right of way.

Neumeyer said city staff felt such a law would be too difficult to enforce. It would mean determining where right of way was -- the number of feet differs from place to place throughout the city -- then measuring to see if signs were on it. Neumeyer revised his proposed law to prohibit signs within 10 feet of an established street.

The law also prohibited political signs from being posted 90 days before or seven days after an election.

Councilmen gave Neumeyer's law final approval on Oct. 21 by a 4-to-3 vote.