Sunday, May 03, 2009
Door opens on Vander Maten's Explore vision
Dan Radmacher
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From the RoundTable blog
In his nonfiction work about the horror genre, "Danse Macabre," Stephen King observed that there is nothing so frightening as the unknown. "The artistic work of horror is almost always a disappointment. It is the classic no-win situation. You can scare people with the unknown for a long, long time but sooner or later, as in poker, you have to turn your cards up. You have to open the door and show the audience what's behind it."
The opposite is also true, and for the same reason: Nothing is more exciting than the unknown. Just as your imagination can conjure up horrors that no author or filmmaker can match, it is also able to envision wonders that no, say, developer can deliver.
Which is why the game Larry Vander Maten has been playing for the last four years is so dangerous. After holding his plans for Explore Park as close to his vest as any gambler ever has, he's finally shown a couple of cards.
Those who imagined Vander Maten was clutching a royal flush in his hand may be looking at the plans he finally unveiled last week and wondering what the fuss was all about. Though he's holding onto a couple of hole cards -- "proprietary" elements consisting of "intellectual property" he's not at liberty to share -- it's hard to see how the final hand can end up as the winner he's made it out to be all these years.
What he did reveal is not a bad plan. As we said in a Thursday editorial, Vander Maten's vision seems in line with that of local leaders who have longed for Explore Park -- or, as Vander Maten would rename it, "Blue Ridge America" -- to become an economic driver to pull tourist dollars to the region.
But there's no real "wow" there, nothing unique that would justify the intense shroud of secrecy Vander Maten has maintained over the project out of fear, he said, that someone would steal his idea and create it elsewhere.
What's there to steal?
Blue Ridge America sounds like it could be a nice resort in a beautiful natural setting off the parkway. It would have campgrounds, cabins and an RV park, as well as hotels, restaurants and a water park. There would be an equestrian center, amphitheater and a couple of man-made lakes. There'd be a zip line for thrill-seekers and a gondola for the less adventurous.
It's a nice collection of features and amenities, but if there's a grand, unifying vision there, some patentable idea that someone might steal and re-create somewhere else, I must have missed it.
That isn't to say Vander Maten might not have a winning hand. Put it all together, and it could well be the tourist attraction the region has been hoping for. That's a gamble I'm willing to take, especially if Vander Maten can find investors to put up the $200 million stake -- which seems a pretty unlikely proposition in the foreseeable future.
Personally, though, I'd be just as happy to see Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority member Bill Tanger's idea of turning Explore into a state park become reality.
Build a few rustic cabins. Put in a couple of loops of car-camping sites. Get the park's trails back in shape and add some more. Put in an inexpensive canoe launch on the Roanoke River.
That seems like a good use of 1,100 acres of public land to me. Of course, getting the state to fund another state park is just as unlikely a prospect in the foreseeable future as finding investors for a $200 million project -- if not more so.
A state park would be a tourist draw, but probably not to the same extent promised by Vander Maten's proposal -- or envisioned by those who conceived Explore Park in the mid-1980s.
Vander Maten thinks he can find investors -- though he admitted up front that he may need yet another extension on his option for a 99-year lease on the land, which expires on June 13, 2010.
Absent an unlikely commitment from the commonwealth to build a state park, granting that extension might be the best option. Alternative proposals are scarce.
Still, I'd really like to know the point of Vander Maten's secrecy all these years. All that accomplished was to build up expectations -- good and bad -- that reality simply couldn't fulfill.
Those who represented the public in these dealings didn't serve the project or the people well by acquiescing to Vander Maten's desire to keep the door shut all this time.
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
