PERRY CO. STUDIES NEW LAKE; COUNTY RESURRECTS 25-YEAR-OLD STUDY

PERRYVILLE - The apparent end of an effort to construct a 7,700-acre recreational lake in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties has prompted the Perry County Commission to resurrect a 25-year-old study for possible construction of a lake in that county.

Presiding Commissioner Karl Klaus said Wednesday the commission will appoint a seven member committee, possibly at its meeting today, to study the prospects of constructing a recreational lake.

Klaus explained that in 1966-67 the Perryville Chamber of Commerce had seriously studied a recreational lake of about 2,000 acres.

Core drillings were done and a feasibility study completed, but the project was discarded after efforts to get a combination of local, state, and federal funding fell through.

The proposed lake site extends from Highway T north of Brewer to where Saline Creek meets Goose Creek. The project would involve damming up Saline Creek, and the lake would run parallel to Interstate 55.

"When the Cape-Bollinger County Lake idea fell through, some people who had been on the original committee in 1966 approached me," said Klaus. "Our thoughts right now are to appoint a seven-member committee to look into it.

"I have no qualms about having them look into it; I feel the lake could be an asset to the county."

Klaus said he did not know whether the lake could be larger than 2,000 acres but said that would be something for the committee to research.

"It will be up to the committee to determine the size," Klaus said, noting that the location of the interstate highway and the fact that the city of Perryville receives part of its water supply from Saline Creek could have an impact on the size.

Klaus stressed the lake could help promote tourism and economic development in Perry County as well as provide recreation for county citizens.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep has provided Klaus with information on how the lake committee was formed here, and has offered them any of the data it wants to use.

"We've got all the files and they are of no great value to us right now," said Huckstep. "There is no problem for us to make it available to them. If it works out to be feasible for Perry County, I'm happy for them."

When the Bollinger County Commission started expressing doubts about putting a 1-cent sales tax before voters to pay for the proposed lake, Huckstep and Klaus discussed the possibility of a joint venture between Cape and Perry counties.

"They were definitely interested in being part of the project if we could find a way to run the lake into Perry County," said Huckstep. "We had the engineers take a look at it but it just wasn't feasible. We were hoping something could be worked out but the geological study showed there was no way to get with Perry County on this."

Klaus said he was disappointed nothing could be worked out with Cape County, but said he looked forward to having a committee review the old feasibility study.

Klaus admitted there are a lot of questions to be answered on a Perry County lake, including how to pay for it, but stressed it would be worthwhile for a committee to review the feasibility of such a project.

Earlier this summer, after taking a newspaper survey, the Bollinger County Commission decided against putting a sales tax issue before the voters to fund a joint project with Cape Girardeau County for a recreational lake.

Engineering studies have shown that a lake of any reasonable size cannot be built by Cape County alone. At least some acreage in Bollinger County would be needed, studies have concluded.