THE QUESTION: Should the Lover's Leap site at the 31.5-mile marker be purchased and made into a public park?
We need more picnic spots with lake views
It’s a great idea. We need more areas to pull over and have a picnic and enjoy the water views.
Right now your picnic choices would be drive-thru Wendy’s and in JB Hooks parking lot.
Dan Gibbs, Osage Beach
Pick up your trash
The Lover’s Leap area is like a lot of the lake right now, trashy.
It’s up to everyone to keep our lake clean, whether it’s park area or private property.
The owner should close off the area if people continue to put trash there.
Cathy D. Palmer, Sunrise Beach
No, it’s private property
At this point in time, the Lover’s Leap site should not be purchased by the state. It is private property and the owner should retain her property rights as long as she desires or wills it to her family.
I admire her patience with visitors who come on her property to see the overlook. I don’t think that I would be that accommodating!
She has every right to gate it off, if the trash problem persists. This poor lady can not afford to be hauling off other people’s trash!
People have a right to their property and their privacy, so no, this site should not fall into the hands of the state.
James R. Hall, Camdenton
A park area would be much better than condos
I have property near Lover’s Leap and have been afraid for the past several years that a developer would buy the land, denude it of all vegetation and build condos, forever ruining the landscape.
Land adjacent to it has been for sale for the past year and there is already a condo development to the Southwest. I would definitely be in favor of the State or the County purchasing the property, but only IF it is something that the current owner is interested in pursuing.
Better to make the land public than expose it to more condo building.
There are two issues to this story. The first issue is trespassing.
I’ve driven over near Lover’s Leap out of curiosity and taken photos from the road in wintertime when I can see the lake from my car.
Knowing this was private property, the thought NEVER occurred to me to trespass and go out for a better view. It’s both nice to know that the owners, realizing they have a very attractive property, have been tolerant of trespassers and at the same time it is very sad that they have to consider blocking off access to keep people from littering since many are too lazy to clean up after themselves or use the land as a dump (such as the foam-dumping episode this spring).
Obviously in these difficult economic times finding public monies to purchase the land will be difficult. However I feel it is something that should be investigated. The positives – more security, cleaning up trash from the losers that cannot be bothered to clean up after themselves, and most importantly, providing a safe public access – would outweigh the negatives which could include a developer buying up this land and building more condos.
Aside from the purchase of the land, there would not be a major investment needed as this area wouldn’t require the amenities that are existent at places such as Ha Ha Tonka. While I’m all for the State or County looking into purchase of this land, the family that owns the property may have their own ideas and their wishes should come first.
Mark McBride, Springfield, Ill./Sunrise Beach
Public lake access needed
I think it would be great. There are a lot of folks that don't have acess to the lake.
This would be another option.
Debbie Rooney, Kaiser
It would be a great spot for a public park
It is heartbreaking that a few people can damage the beauty of such a popular location that the rest of us enjoy so much.
There have been a lot of comments about the property owners putting out a few trash cans so people that visit the site can use them, yet others ask why the owners should be out the expense of the trash cans because of other people’s disrespect for their property.
But if they are out the expense, time and effort of picking up the trash that others leave anyway, then the expense of a few trash cans may be well worth it if they would get used.
If they wanted to sell the property to an organization or business in order to make it a park setting, my suggestion would be for AmerenUE to purchase the land and follow through with a lakefront park.
I believe they have already received their license from FERC, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but this would have been a big plus on the application and the shoreline management phase.
Even beyond that, it would be a positive gesture from Ameren to the public if they did this.
Of course it really depends on whether the owners would consider selling the popular spot or not.
Ron Gentry, Camdenton
