Cape council refuses to rezone Old Hopper Road site amid neighborhood opposition

The Cape Girardeau City Council refused Monday to rezone nearly 18 acres along Old Hopper Road after strong opposition from nearby property owners who said construction of duplexes or town homes would lead to traffic congestion and pose a safety problem.

A motion to approve the rezoning failed for lack of a second.

But Mayor Bob Fox told opponents of the project the developer now may construct single-family homes of less value, which could reduce neighborhood property values.

�You will have more traffic,� he told the crowd at city hall. �It is going to be developed no matter what.�

Developer Brandon Williams sought to rezone the tract from R-1, single-family residential, to R-3, high-density, single-family residential. The rezoning request dealt with part of a 55.8 acre tract at the southwest corner of Hopper Road and Old Hopper Road. The entire tract, whose western boundary borders Interstate 55, is currently zoned to allow for construction of single-family homes.

R-3 zoning allows for up to nine units per acre compared to four units per acre in the R-1 zone, city planner Ryan Shrimplin said in an agenda report to the council. It does not allow for apartments, he said before the meeting.

Williams initially had proposed to rezone another 15.9 acres on the west side of the tract for commercial development, but Shrimplin said before the council meeting the developer subsequently withdrew the commercial zoning request.

The commercial zoning (C-1) was initially proposed, based on the future extension of Veterans Memorial Drive southward from Hopper Road where it now dead ends, Shrimplin said.

Williams told the council he wanted to build housing for people age 55 and older, who don�t want to have to take care of the exterior of their property.

But about 10 residents in the neighborhood said they opposed the development.

The city�s planning and zoning commission had recommended approval of the rezoning request despite neighborhood opposition.

Teresa Wilke, who lives in the 3700 block of Old Hopper Road, said the commission �ignored� their concerns.

Wilke told the council Old Hopper Road has no curbs or sidewalks. Allowing a high-density development would dump added traffic on the road.

�This is a safety issue,� she said.

Gary Gaines, who owns a house next to the proposed development, suggested the city needs more diversity on its planning and zoning commission. Commission members are all white men, he said.

Gaines suggested the council should turn down the request or at least require a strip of land along Old Hopper Road remain R-1.

Cheryl Essner, who lives on nearby Highland Drive, said a development of duplexes or town homes would �destroy the nature of our neighborhood.�

Debra Mitchell-Braxton, who lives on Old Hopper Road across the street from what is currently farm land, said she was concerned about traffic safety as well as �where the deer will go.� The deer often roam through the area.

She said the proposed development would dump excessive traffic onto a dangerous curve on Old Hopper Road. She and other opponents of the rezoning request said the street, which is maintained by the Cape Girardeau Special Road District, is not designed to handle such traffic.

Opponents contended rezoning the property would have amounted to spot zoning, but council members and city attorney Eric Cunningham said that was not the case.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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