HOUSING VISION NEEDS COOPERATION, NOT MORE REJECTIONS

Despite a leveling off in new residential construction nationally, Cape Girardeau continues to enjoy a development boom.

While development in some subdivisions is accelerating, however, other projects have been throttled before they ever made it off a plat. On Monday, the city council rebuffed a rezoning request by Rendrag Development Co. The rejection brings to into focue the issue of development in Cape Girardeau. Specifically, what type of development is most needed, and what will the housing market sustain?

In the case of Rendrag's proposal, neighbors protested any development other than single-family homes. Real estate people and city planning officials will tell you there is a high demand in Cape Girardeau for rental housing. This includes luxury-type condominiums and duplexes as well as low-cost homes and apartments. But the demand for such housing doesn't ensure a market for such housing.

With a limited amount of property available for development, property owners can demand a high premium for a particular tract. With so much invested in the property at the front end, in addition to the cost of utilities and streets in the subdivision, a developer is left with little choice when it is time to sell off lots except to build exclusive $150,000 to $200,000 homes to get a decent return on the investment.

A possible option is to propose a mixed-bag development that includes rental units and commercial uses. But because undeveloped property in Cape Girardeau automatically is zoned single-family residential, mixed-use development requires the developer to go before the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council for rezoning or a special-use permit. Neighboring property owners, accustomed to looking out their bay windows at open pasture, tend to take exception to the construction of apartments and convenience stores nearby.

Another development that died after neighbors opposed the plan was Lexington Place. The developer envisioned a subdivision along Lexington that included exclusive single-family homes and high-cost duplexes as a buffer between the homes and existing duplexes that abut the subdivision. On the other side of the tract, fronting Lexington Avenue, the developer proposed a couple of apartment buildings. Again, residents of the subdivisions on the other side of Lexington shrilly opposed any development that wasn't single-family homes.

In other words, the demand for such a development is trumped by the opposition of neighbors. That, too, is the market at work. In the meantime, low-cost and rental housing inventories continues to shrink.

What to do? The options are few.

One option for adding to the city's affordable housing has been the city's ability to secure government grants to rehabilitate deteriorated property occupied by low- to moderate-income residents. Another is the growing willingness recently of local lending institutions to make low-interest loans available to developers who want to take a chance with the tighter profit margins inherent in building economical housing. But such efforts won't meet the need entirely. And even if developers take advantage of the opportunity, who is to say undeveloped land is available without inciting the ire of neighboring property owners protecting their own investments?

Essentially, there are no easy solutions. Cape Girardeau is experiencing what many thriving communities face: growing pains. But the difficult solutions must be sought, even if it means compromise -- from lending institutions, developers, city planners and residents. To do otherwise risks stifling growth.