Conservation campus to have solitary public entrance

The Cape Girardeau County Park North will have just one public entrance once the construction of the access road to the conservation campus is completed. But there will also be a private drive where the current public entrance is now.

The county commission Thursday signed an agreement submitted by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission that lays out the conditions for the entrance.

The private entrance will be gated for the private purposes of Bruce Watkins, the park superintendent, who lives in the home on the park grounds. The county will construct and maintain the gate.

No timeline restrictions were included in the agreement, which was somewhat of a hang-up for the county commission in a previous agreement document.

Document disagreement

The first document, Presiding County Commissioner Gerald Jones said, indicated the county would have to abandon the road entirely when Watkins moved out of the home.

Jones said he didn't want to commit to that because future commissions may want to do something with the home and need the access.

Construction on the conservation campus entrance is ongoing. The entrance will be on the opposite side of Kingshighway from the veterans cemetery.

Motorists wishing to visit the memorial flag will have to use the new access road.