Cape's last plan served purpose, city officials say

Those who helped create Cape Girardeau's 1987 comprehensive plan believe it has served its purpose and say although some of its objectives never were achieved, many more were.

"A comprehensive plan, if it's done right, is a living thing," said city planner Kent Bratton, who was one of the architects of the last plan.

"You're looking for an overall view, not necessarily getting into every nook and cranny in town."

Cape Girardeau recently began the yearlong process of revising its comprehensive plan. Consultants will ask for public input on the subjects of business and growth at a 6:30 p.m. meeting today at the Osage Community Centre.

The seeds of the 1987 plan were planted in 1982. Then, a younger Bratton working for the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission in Perryville walked or drove every street in Cape Girardeau for a city inventory of infrastructure. He and an associate went up and down roads evaluating sewers, housing conditions, sidewalks and historic structures.

Because the city had this information -- and because the Missouri Department of Transportation announced the position of the new bridge and extension of Highway 74 that year -- leaders decided to revise the comprehensive plan, Bratton said.

The plan written by the regional planning commission in 1987 was particularly useful in the early years, Bratton said."People tend to think that once the 1987 plan was done it just sat there, and that's not the case," he said.

Bratton pointed to sewer expansion, one of the top objectives in the plan.

The sewer system was a notable problem, said former mayor Gene Rhodes."You either built in the old part of town or you didn't build at all because you didn't have sewers in place," he said.

Areas surrounding North Kingshighway, Route K and Interstate 55 did not have sewer systems, and the plan said that was stifling development.

In 1990, voters passed a $23 million bond proposal and began to extend the trunk sewer system. Less than four months later, Wal-Mart moved into its location off Route K, and development has been steady since.

Without the sewers, Bratton said, luring Wal-Mart to the location "would have been much more difficult."

The next year, the city followed up by drawing a master plan strictly for sewers.

Another top priority of the plan was to "examine the feasibility of city acquisition and operation of the other utilities."

In 1992, Cape Girardeau purchased its water system from Union Electric. The next year it implemented a comprehensive plan for water services.

"As a planner, if your city doesn't own the water system, you've got some problems," Bratton said.

He estimated about 20 percent of the city in 1987 had no sewer or water lines. Without ownership, the city couldn't expand that coverage.

"The success of the last plan is allowing us to focus more on neighborhood and social issues today. Now we're not contending with large areas without sewer or water service," he said.

Another key and contentious issue proposed in the 1987 plan was creation of Lexington Avenue on the city's north side. It involved upgrading 8,000 feet of existing street and acquiring property for 8,400 feet of new street.

"I remember there was a big fight between people living on Lexington toward Cape Rock Drive. They didn't want it to be a thoroughfare," said Thomas Holshouser, who sat on the Planning and Zoning Commission for 15 years.

Lexington Avenue was projected as a major artery in the city's 1968 comprehensive plan and a 1972 study conducted by the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department.

Construction on Lexington began in 1989 amid continued resistance from residents. Holshouser said that while many opponents may still resent the street, most of the subdivisions developed in the city's north end as well as LaCroix United Methodist Church now depend on it and likely wouldn't exist without it.

"A lot of people weren't happy about it, but I guess sometimes they call it progress," he said.

Other projections in the 1987 comprehensive plan haven't been as accurate. Using historical figures, the plan estimated that by 2000, the population could be as high as 53,604 and likely no lower than 41,577.

The 2000 census listed Cape Girardeau's population as 35,349.

Rhodes said planners probably didn't anticipate growth in surrounding areas.

"I feel personally it's not up to what I hoped," he said of the growth. "You've also got to take into consideration growth in Jackson, Scott City and Cape Girardeau County. A lot of people didn't expect that."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245