Retail coffee hot topic at Cape Girardeau P & Z meeting

Nothing apparently steams the neighbors like pounds and pounds of coffee.

Curtis and Carol Greer have a house full of beans that their neighbors don't want them to sell, and they said so at the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission's meeting Wednesday.

Actually, the Greers already sell their coffee at wholesale prices, but when the neighborhood heard the buzz that they might try to sell it for more, over 70 of them signed a petition that opposed it.

The Greers are wholesale distributors and store their coffee, tea and hot chocolate in their home on 329 Edgewood Drive in Cape Girardeau. Business has been slow, so they have considered selling their products at retail prices directly to local businesses.

One of the steps in the process to become licensed retailers is to have a storage place that is properly zoned. Rather than pay for a storage facility, the couple applied for a special permit that would allow them to continue storing their products in their home.

Curtis Greer told the commission that he did not want a permit to sell anything from his home, or to post a sign or even to receive shipments in delivery trucks. He simply wanted to continue storing his coffee in his home.

His neighbors won't have it. Five of them presented the petition and addressed the commission with concerns about how they would enforce the restrictions of his special permit. They suggested property that values would decrease if there were a "coffee shop" in the neighborhood.

The commission voted eight to three against the permit request.

rgoodier@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 195