The Board of Aldermen brought clarity to a few issues at its latest meeting Dec. 6.
A public hearing was held in reference to Dave Richardet submitting a rezoning request to rezone partial lots on his property off of Montenot between Alma Avenue and Edgemont Boulevard from R-2 to R-5 to construct apartment complexes on Nov. 15. The Planning and Zoning board reviewed the request and recommended not approving the rezoning.
The issue has been addressed several times before at council meetings and the sentiment from the Perryville residents in the area remains the same.
They are against the rezoning and multiple residents spoke to that the issue during the November meeting and the board approved not rezoning the area.
“We had a long discussion with a few residents last meeting and assured them that we would not approve this rezoning,” Perryville Mayor Larry Riney said. “That’s what we are going to do.”
The board also adopted a Landlord/Tenant Complaint Flow Chart. There has been recent confusion among staff as to the Board’s agreement with the Perry County Landlord Association and how tenant complaints are to be handled. The flow chart has been in place since 2017, but never officially been through the Board of Aldermen.
Riney attended a Landlord Association meeting in October and noted there were about two complaints per month.
“If you look at how many rental properties we have, which makes up about one-third of our total housing in Perryville. I think that is pretty good.” Riney said.
In other news, the city is entering into an amendment of the Justice Center Intergovernmental Agreement with the county. This agreement provides that the City and County will share responsibility for the operations and oversight of the joint dispatch department, allowing us to better supervise the Department and realize the efficiencies of not having two 911 dispatch centers.
The board also amended Title 5 by adding Chapter 5.15 relative to automobile repair shops. Previously, staff asked the city attorney to help address automobile repair shops that simply stored wrecked and damaged vehicles on their premises. City Attorney Art Pistorio has responded to the call and developed the attached ordinance which will be incorporated into the licensing rules for such businesses. This new rule should help beautify the area surrounding new businesses going forward.
In the consent agenda, the board approved several different payments, including the new fire house and the wastewater treatment plant. A project was approved at the Perryville Regional Airport to replace runways, parts of which date back to World War II. Given the primary funding source, the project must be fully designed and out for bid come April 2023.
This will be a 90-10 percent split cost with MoDOT and the FAA.
A location for a skatepark was approved, a project spearheaded by Heritage Tourism Director Trish Erzfeld.
Timers will be added to ballfields 4 and 8 in the City Park. Aldermen have previously asked questions about the ball field lights being left on afterhours.
Staff has prepared a policy position for the Board to consider that would continue to allow the community to utilize the ballfield lights but time them out at 10 p.m.
The next meeting will be Dec. 20.
