By AP/KWMU
Pinckneyville, Ill. – Officials in Perry County, Illinois have given the thumbs up to a development firm's plan to build a resort near the southern Illinois town of Pinckneyville.
On Tuesday the county's three-member board of commissioners signed off on a resolution supporting the project.
The Toney Watkins Company wants to swap 2,000 acres of land near Pinckneyville for a chunk of the nearby Pyramid state park in hopes of building a resort similar to one in Branson, Missouri.
Environmental groups have questioned whether giving up park land is a good idea.
But board Chairman James Booker says the development is essential for the economically distressed area, which recently lost its biggest employer and 440 jobs with the closure of a plant that made DVDs and compact discs.