Special-use permit approved for Cape Girardeau County's planned justice center

A new justice center is planned in Jackson to house court functions for the 32nd Judicial District and Cape Girardeau County, and after the Jackson Board of Aldermen granted a special-use permit for the structure at Monday�s regular meeting, the project can move forward.

The special-use permit allows for a new courthouse building up to four stories, 75 feet high. The county has not submitted plans for the structure because two design-build teams are creating competing bids for the project, County Commissioner Charlie Herbst said when addressing the aldermen during the public hearing for the special-use permit.

Two applicants are preparing a plan each for the new facility, Herbst said, and each plan will be scored on scope, function and overall design.

Context sensitivity will be important, Herbst added: How does the proposed building fit in the neighborhood?

�The Commission has communicated this to the design teams,� Herbst said.

The site of the planned new Cape Girardeau County Courthouse building is seen Monday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization president Darren Burgfeld and historic preservation commission chairman Greg Yielding both spoke to the county�s need for a new facility. Both organizations urged the county to consider creating a new facility with maximum space, efficiency and security while keeping an eye to design complementing existing historic structures in the area.

Jackson city attorney Tom Ludwig said there is a division of labor with this project between the City of Jackson and the county commission.

The commissioners will choose a design-build team and will review the plan, ultimately approving the design.

The City of Jackson will have no say in the aesthetics of the building, Ludwig said, only in granting or denying the special-use permit for the structure�s height.

�Everyone has a job here,� Ludwig said, and, according to state law, the city�s role is to determine land use, and the county commissioners� job is to approve or disapprove a design they receive and the amount of money they receive to fulfill their goal.

The site of the planned new Cape Girardeau County Courthouse building is seen Monday in Jackson.KASSI JACKSON

�My problem is voting on this without a design, and I know they can�t design without an approval,� Alderwoman Katy Liley said.

The motion to approve the permit passed 6 to 1, with Liley the only �nay� vote.

Other business

Parking and traffic control on West Jefferson Street, site of the Freshman Center addition to Jackson High School and shared by St. Paul Lutheran School, and the high school�s football stadium, was the subject of several ordinances to help regulate traffic on or near the street.

• Stop signs will be added to West Adams and West Jefferson streets.
• On Colorado, West Jefferson and South Oklahoma streets, parking designations will be amended.
• A crosswalk will be added at West Madison and South Russell streets.

These changes were arrived at by a committee with members from the City of Jackson, St. Paul, the Jackson School District and the Jackson Police Department, according to earlier reporting by the Southeast Missourian.

In other action, the aldermen approved the following motions.

• Renewal of an expired special-use permit for a community unit plan for a senior housing development for the Villas of West Jackson subdivision.
• A public hearing was set for 6 p.m. Aug. 20 to consider proposed tax rates for parks and recreation, general revenue, cemetery and band tax.
• A public hearing was set for 6 p.m. Aug. 20 to consider a special-use permit for a doggie daycare in a C-2 (general commercial) district at 608 Rosamund St.
• Koehler Engineering & Land Surveying Inc. of Cape Girardeau will receive $7,400 to provide engineering services for phase II of the environmental site assessment for the police station building project.
• Clark & Sons Excavating will receive nearly $86,000 for the final quantities of the grading and site preparation project for the North Electric Substation.
• A bid from Insituform Technologies USA LLC of Chesterfield, Missouri, under an existing purchase agreement for the 2018 sanitary sewer lining project, was accepted, in the amount of $70,000.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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