Thursday, April 30, 2009
Editorial: Exploring a new dream
The defunct Explore Park's would-be developer unveiled part of his plans for 'Blue Ridge Virginia.' It has a familiar, though not unpleasing, ring.
From the RoundTable blog
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Developer Larry Vander Maten finally gave the public a peek at what he has in mind to transform Roanoke's Explore Park into a major family vacation destination on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
True to his word, the plan as shown will not bring roller coasters or other theme park rides to the rolling hills of the Blue Ridge -- a good thing indeed.
His vision lines up closely with that of local movers and shakers who, at Explore's inception in the mid-1980s, pushed it as a major economic driver that would pull tourist dollars from throughout the Eastern Seaboard into the Roanoke Valley.
The parallels are so close, in fact, one wonders why Vander Maten has refused for years to make any part of his plan public. If he can arrange the financing to bring it to fruition -- and that remains a big "if" -- it will be built on public land, giving the public a more than passing interest in the development.
Tuesday, he held back a few elements of what he is calling "Blue Ridge America" as proprietary intellectual property that he is not yet willing to reveal. What he did show to officials of the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, which controls the land, and to Roanoke County officials contained no revolutionary new ideas. The attractions, though, were tailored to take advantage of the park's one unique feature: its location on the scenic parkway.
What Vander Maten showed fit his stated vision: "I want to take it and make it like a national park on steroids."
Building anything will depend, of course, on Vander Maten's ability to get at least half of the $200 million in financing he is seeking by a June 13, 2010, deadline to exercise an option on a 99-year lease with the recreational authority. He acknowledged Tuesday he probably will need to seek an extension.
The authority would have leverage then to seek concessions or even cancel the deal, allowing the failed Explore Park to revert to state control. At a minimum, the authority should insist that Vander Maten concede disputed public access to the Roanoke River at Rutrough Road, where he envisions a marina, and agree to link an old Explore Park trail to the Roanoke Valley Greenway, as long planned.
Any success "Blue Ridge America" might have, after all, would be bolstered by the developer's free use of 1,100 acres of public land. His investment, in turn, could be a boon to the local economy.
That has been the plan for almost four years, since the developer first got his option on the land. As Explore's supporters know all too well, though, dreams don't always come true. He shouldn't cloud this one with an elitist label by shutting out locals completely.
