The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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October 11, 2009

Apartment’s zoning at issue for council

By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

An attempt to win a zoning permit to establish a bed and breakfast at the garage apartment where the infamous Bonnie and Clyde gang, in a hail of bullets, made its escape in 1933 from Joplin will be renewed before the Joplin City Council.

A request for special-use permit at 33471⁄2 Oak Ridge that was turned down by the council four years ago because of neighborhood opposition will be presented again at the council’s meeting today.

Owner Phillip McClendon will take his request to the council without a recommendation from the Zoning and Planning Commission, which tied 2-2 on whether to recommend the permit at a meeting Sept. 16. Two members of the zoning panel were absent and one abstained, which led to the tie vote.

McClendon has obtained state and federal recognition of the apartment where the outlaws engaged in a gun battle that resulted in the deaths of lawmen Wesley Harriman and Harry McGinnis. The site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Three people in addition to McClendon spoke in favor of the proposal at the Zoning and Planning Commission meeting.

Three neighbors — Virgil McCoy, Peggy Webb and Sarah Kracman — voiced opposition. They said they have concerns about the type of people who would visit the apartment, and they referred to the effort to make the site a tourist attraction as akin to glorifying the criminals and the murders.

The issue requires a special-use permit because the neighborhood is zoned only for single-family residential properties, which does not permit the establishment of a bed and breakfast.

In other business, the council will be asked by city staff to approve a $4.49 million contract with Kanza Construction Inc. to build the railroad viaduct over Connecticut Avenue near 26th Street. The project was one proposed when voters were asked to approve a three-eighths-cent transportation sales tax. The cost initially was estimated at $4.3 million but during design discussions with the Kansas City Southern Railway Co., the cost projection rose to $6 million.

Engineers cited factors that included having to lengthen the track by nearly 3,000 feet, enlarge concrete bases for the bridge piers, and correct stormwater drainage at the site. But, the bids came in lower than that projection.

There were 27 contractors who picked up bidding documents. Three bids, including Kanza’s were submitted. The other two were bids of $5.3 million by Railworks Track Services and $5.4 million by Jeff Asbell Excavating.



Time and place

The council will meet in informal session at 5:15 p.m. today to hear a presentation on the city’s dog-tethering ordinances. The formal meeting is at 6 p.m. in council chambers on the fifth floor of City Hall, 602 S. Main St.

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