Fruitland seeks incorporation again

Though turned away by government officials after previous attempts, the people of the Cape Girardeau County community of Fruitland aren't giving up on efforts to incorporate as a fourth-class city.

A group of residents, Friends of Fruitland, again is trying the incorporation process. Signatures on an annexation petition sent to the city of Jackson on Oct. 7 were certified by county clerk Kara Clark Summers late last week. In accordance with state law, petitioners must be turned down for annexation by nearby cities before incorporation can proceed.

To get to this point, the group had to gather the required number of signatures. In April, the group was advised by an attorney hired by the Cape Girardeau County Commission that its previous petition was invalid in the eyes of the commission. The attorney said an incorporation question could not be placed on the ballot because the group did not approach nearby cities with the annexation request and it needed to re-collect signatures from residents. The same set of signatures was included in an earlier petition that attempted to have the community incorporated as a village instead of a fourth-class city.

During the 2011 attempt at incorporation as a village, the commission also did not approve placing an incorporation question on the ballot. The group, as it was when it went through the process for incorporation as a village, now seeks to have the community incorporated as a fourth-class city as protection from outside industrial interests and to control growth and development.

"We still are not stopping on this," Deborah Griffin, a group member, said

Thursday.

The city of Jackson has one year to turn down the annexation request when it is submitted. The first such request from 2011 prompted the city of Jackson to hold a vote in February 2012 on whether to annex parts of Fruitland. Jackson voters answered no.

Griffin said the group also remapped the incorporation area proposed in this petition at the commission's request. The area in question now includes the "original footprint" of the Fruitland community, though Griffin said that area is no longer developed, but mostly agricultural land.

The group withdrew its most recent petition in June, when the commission allowed it more time for a decision on how to proceed.

Griffin said Thursday that residents are tired of spending money on their efforts and hope for success this time.

If the city of Jackson turns down the request for annexation, the next step in incorporation would be for the county commission to approve placing an incorporation question on the ballot.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

Fruitland, MO

1 Barton Square, Jackson, MO