ZONE CHANGE WOULD BE NEEDED FOR NEW JUVENILE CENTER

Before the Cape Girardeau County Commission can build a new juvenile justice center, it must first get zoning approval from the city of Cape Girardeau.

The county wants to build a new center on an 11-acre tract along North Clark Street. Because the center would be considered a public-use building, the zoning for the site must be changed. To do so, the county must request a special-use permit from the city council.

No request for a permit or zoning change has been made, said R.J. McKinney, chairman of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Planning and Zoning Commission approved a special-use permit for the juvenile justice center last year, but it was for another site along Locust Street in a commercial district. The county would "have to start all over again," McKinney said.

Special-use permits are only granted for specific uses at specific sites. When a business changes or building use changes, the permit doesn't change with it, he said.

Because the Clark Street site is near residential areas, there might be some opposition, McKinney said. "We take that into consideration."

Mary Murphy thinks the county could find a better site than her neighborhood in the 700 block of North Clark Street.

The land is between the Cape Girardeau Senior Center and the Christian School for the Young Years, a day care center. No one from the Senior Center board of directors or day care was available to comment on the possible construction.

If a juvenile justice center were built, the neighborhood would change from being a nice, peaceful area, Murphy said, adding: "I would think there would be violence at some point."

Randy Rhodes, chief juvenile officer for the 32nd Judicial Circuit, said that wouldn't be true.

Security would be tight at the center, possibly the tightest in the state, he said.

Now the center only detains juveniles who have committed felonies. There simply isn't enough room, with just eight beds at the existing center, 325 Merriwether, to keep every juvenile who is picked up by police.

"We'd catch a lot more problems with more beds," Rhodes said.

He doesn't think there would be problems persuading people of the need for a new juvenile center.

"The problem is not building it, but where to build it," he said. "We are running out of opportunities in Cape Girardeau."

As the county continues to grow, there are options for moving the center farther north, which would give better access for police from Bollinger and Perry counties who also make up the 32nd Judicial Circuit.

Most of the juvenile offenders, however, come from Cape Girardeau, Rhodes said, and moving the center farther north means more travel and expense for judges and police.

If the county buys the land on Clark Street and requests a special-use permit, it would take about two months to get the approval and hold public hearings.

The building would resemble other office buildings in the city, Rhodes said. No one could tell it was a juvenile detention center, except by a sign out front.