RENDRAG TO OFFER ALTERNATE PROJECT

After discarding a contentious development plan last month, Rendrag Development Corp. will bring a different proposal to the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday.

Dr. Robert Gardner, who owns Rendrag, said the new plan incorporates changes that he hopes will placate residents who opposed the first proposal.

But neighbors of the 33-acre development tract, west of Perryville Road and south of Lexington Avenue, oppose any development that would change the area's single-family residential zoning.

Gardner said he has included a residential buffer between those neighbors and multiple family units he hopes to build. The apartment buildings would abut existing apartments adjacent to the proposed development.

The developer has scrapped earlier plans for any commercial zoning on the tract.

Gardner said he hopes the new plan will accommodate the concerns of neighbors while meeting demand in the city for additional apartment units.

"We already own rental property in Cape," he said. "Our existing units are full, and we have a waiting list. We're just trying to meet the demands of those who are looking for rental housing."

The Planning and Zoning Commission heeded the wishes of the 163 property owners who signed a petition opposing the earlier plan and voted unanimously to recommend the project be rejected by the city council.

Gardner withdrew his request before it went to the city council and developed the new plan.

"The only changes I'm asking for now is to put rental property next to existing property that is already R-4 and to keep the rest R-1," said Gardner.

The units will rent for $500 to $1,000 a month. "I think that would blend in well with the neighborhood adjacent to this development project," Gardner added.

But Barbara Glass, a spokeswoman for property owners who signed the petition, isn't so sure.

"The consensus is that the neighborhood still wants to have R-1," said Glass.

The Planning and Zoning Commission sent letters to the group to inform them of Wednesday's public hearing. That prompted opponents of the development to begin circulating another petition.

If the Planning and Zoning Commission votes against the alternate Rendrag plan, the city council may set a public hearing or, by motion, file the commission's recommendation of rejection. Then Gardner would have 10 days to request a public hearing.