RESIDENTS: GIVE US SERVICES, LESS COSTS

Residents along Cape Girardeau's Melody Lane aren't singing a merry tune these days.

Although the area east of Old Sprigg Road and north of Bertling has been in the city limits since the late 1950s, residents aren't served by city sewers or city water.

With the city preparing to extend Lexington Avenue from Old Sprigg Road to Highway 177, Melody Lane residents are faced with paying thousands of dollars in special assessments on the street project.

They think the city should cut them a deal.

"What we are saying is give us a trade-off," Harold Gerlach said Saturday. "Give us our water, or drop the assessments on our property."

Gerlach has lived along the south side of the hilly, gravel road since 1955. His water comes from a well, and a septic tank serves as his sewer.

"We really feel like we need some services out here," he said.

But Gerlach said he and his neighbors probably would settle for lower assessments, even though they are concerned about the fire hazard posed by the lack of city water.

The new section of Lexington will run along the north edge of Melody Lane. The abutting property owners will pay $25 a front foot, with the city picking up the rest of the cost as has been the practice on the previous extensions of Lexington.

But even at $25 a front foot, the cost can be high. Gerlach's portion of the tax bill will be around $3,500.

For another family, the cost will be as high as $19,000.

"They are asking us to make a mighty big contribution out here by putting this road in," observed one man, who requested anonymity.

Some 10 families live along Melody Lane, with an equal number along an adjoining private road called Melody Lane South.

In October, the neighborhood's residents petitioned the city council, requesting the construction of a water line at the city's expense.

But City Engineer J. Kensey Russell estimated it will cost nearly $300,000 to extend water service to the area.

City officials say there isn't any money in this year's water budget to pay for the project.

City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said it will be February or March before the city council will look at any new capital improvement projects for the next fiscal year.

But Fischer said the water lines don't have to be extended while the Lexington and Sprigg Street extensions are being constructed next summer. They can be done later.

Fischer said the Melody Lane residents have made a unique request. In other areas of the city, the developers and property owners have footed the bill for the extension of water lines.