Cape homeowners concerned about proposed bike lanes

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - Citizens voiced their preferences and concerns about Cape Girardeau’s newly proposed bicycle lanes yesterday at a public forum in the Osage Center on Thursday. 

Funding for the bicycle lanes would come from a $253,000 grant received from the Missouri Foundation for Health. These lanes would be located along residential streets as well as in commercial areas.

Bicycle lanes would make travel safer for cyclists and motorists alike. To ensure safety of everyone on the roads, there would be no parking along streets where the proposed bicycle lanes would be located.

Avid cyclist and lifelong Cape Girardeau resident, Steve Girard, believes there is another benefit to these bicycle lanes.

“I think the premise of the bike lanes themselves would be to allow for people that wouldn’t otherwise get out on the roads on their bicycle, would give them a place to ride and feel more comfortable,” Girard says.

Many homeowners and real estate professionals spoke out against the lanes, saying they would decrease property value.

The bicycle lanes would occur along residential streets as well as in commercial areas. Along the streets where the bicycle lanes have been proposed, there would no longer be any parking on either side of the street.

Ralph Hendrickson with ERA Cape Realty feels that this lack of street parking is one of the main concerns with these proposed bike lanes.

“Those folks that live there who have lived there for decades or maybe just bought six months ago, didn’t know this was coming, potentially could be hurt and their property values could be hurt because potential buyers are going to buy somewhere else,” Hendrickson said.

The city staff will take all of the comments and questions they received at the forum and map them out to determine where the most positive feedback for the lanes is located and then make a final recommendation to the city council.

The city staff will take all of the comments and questions they received at the forum and map them out to determine where the most positive feedback for the lanes is located and then make a final recommendation to the city council.

Katie Long, KRCU

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Cape Girardeau real estate market shows improvements

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO (KRCU) - The first two months of 2011 showed improvement for Cape Girardeua’s real estate market as compared to the same time frame in 2010.

Tom Meyer of Exit Reality says that property is selling for about 90 percent of its listed price. Over the past year, this ratio has stood between 80 and 85 percent. This could either be the result of sellers confronting reality and setting lower listing prices … or that buyers are approaching buyers’ demand.

Meyer says that media reports have overexaggerated the role of foreclosures. Or at least that’s the case for Southeast Missouri.

“We do have foreclosures. That came about because of some lending practices. That’s true. But it’s not overwhelming us. We are a very diverse, conservative community,” Meyer says.

Meyer says that properties listed under 75 thousand dollars are very active. First-time home buyers are keeping the 80 to 130 thousand dollar market strong. However, Meyer calls homes listed between 125 and 225 thousand dollars a ‘dead price range.’ Houses listed above 225 thousand dollars continue to be strong.

The average price for houses sold thus far in 2011 is about 140 thousand dollars. The average price of houses on the Cape Girardeau market is 175 thousand dollars.

These figures represent Cape Girardeau County, as well as northern Scott, southern Perry, and Bollinger Counties.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

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