Jackson board presents assessment update

The Jackson Board of Aldermen presented an update on the Cape Girardeau County Needs Assessment Plan and U.S. 61 project during the study session after their meeting Monday night, which included a plan to reconfigure U.S. 61 around the city's courthouse and diagonally through where the Cape Girardeau County Administration building stands today.

A large roundabout or a four-way lighted intersection both are possibilities in the reconfiguration designed to relieve traffic congestion in uptown Jackson, but either way, the county administration building would be demolished and continue through the city's public parking lot, said city administrator Jim Roach.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is studying the feasibility of the route and its potential effect on the surrounding area, Roach said. A traffic study will be conducted, and it should only be a couple months before the results are available. Meetings to gather the public's input then will be held.

There are "several balls in the air" among MoDOT, the city and the county, regarding the feasibility of the potential route, the cost and such a reconstruction's effect -- good or bad, Roach said.

Should the administration building be demolished, a four-story county building connected to the city jail would house everything in the administration building and then some, said Alderman Larry Cunningham.

It makes sense to have a straight-shot route and to have everything under one roof, Roach said.

Other action

* Aldermen passed a motion to set a public hearing for 7 p.m. April 21 to consider the city's intent to submit a grant application to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Program, relative to the Jackson Soccer Park Playground Equipment Project.

* Aldermen passed an ordinance authorizing a contractual agreement with the Southeast Missouri Solid Waste Management District, under its 2014 District Grants Program, relative to the purchase of a new forklift at the Jackson Recycling Center.

* Aldermen passed a motion approving the re-approval of the preliminary plat of Jackson North Industrial Park Subdivision.

* Aldermen passed an ordinance approving a special use permit for gun and ammunition sales at 130 S. High St., Suite 203, in the C-3, Central business, district.

* Aldermen passed an ordinance approving the minor plat of Nine Oaks Lot 54 Resubdivision.

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