Members of the Jackson and Cape Girardeau Joint Subdivision Advisory Committee said they understood why the Cape Girardeau City Council unanimously passed a resolution last week to send the issue of peripheral zoning to the Cape Girardeau County Commission, but they wish the council had tabled the discussion.

The committee, which was formed last year, has been meeting monthly to develop standards for infrastructure and utilities of new subdivisions countywide. Committee members said the group has been working not on any zoning regulations but on protections against cities annexing areas with substandard streets, sewer systems and other infrastructure.

Advisory committee member William T. Hinckley said Monday he feels there is a much higher trust level among county residents for subdivision regulations than peripheral zoning. He said he hopes Cape Girardeau and Jackson planning and zoning boards will eventually endorse the committee's recommendations but that he is afraid the zoning issue will give county residents the wrong idea about the committee's work.

"I don't want anyone to walk away with the idea that we are interested in zoning. We have worked too long and too hard to have the waters muddied," Hinckley said.

Unlike peripheral zoning, any proposed subdivision regulations will be voted on by county residents, while peripheral zoning will be decided by the Cape Girardeau County Commission.

Committee member Mary Miller said she still feels that subdivision regulations are in the best interest of the county and agreed that the zoning issue might taint the work being done by the committee. She said she spoke before the Cape Girardeau City Council and asked members to delay sending the issue to the commission.

"Cape Girardeau did what they felt was best for their city. I can't find fault with that. They have their own mission and their own constituents," she said.

Under Missouri law, any charter city with a population of more than 35,000 can adopt and enforce peripheral zoning, provided it is in a first-class county. Peripheral zoning would affect areas within two miles of the city.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission would have to approve peripheral zoning before the city could enact and enforce it. Commissioners have not said when they plan on addressing the issue, but committee members said they plan to present their recommendations to Jackson and Cape Girardeau city officials in November and to the commission at the end of January.

cbartholomew@semissourian.com

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