Monday, April 16, 2007
Editorial: Selling Virginia's natural wonder
Natural Bridge is for sale. Does ownership of the landmark best rest in the hands of the state?
From the RoundTable blog
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A geological wonder, up for sale? Few people might have known that Natural Bridge, the famed 215-foot-high limestone rock formation in Rockbridge County, was even privately owned.
But whoever has pockets deep enough to buy the rock bridge and accompanying amenities -- asking price $32.5 million -- ought to preserve as much of the landmark's natural integrity as possible.
One way would be for the state to purchase at least part of the 1,600-acre property to assure that development would not impact the natural attraction and or make it inaccessible to the public.
Virginia at least twice has considered buying Natural Bridge. Gov. William Tuck wanted to buy the attraction for $2 million in 1948, but legislators found the price too high.
Oh, that they had had the foresight to close the deal.
In 1976, Gov. Mills Godwin proposed buying it for $4.3 million after critics complained that commercial interests were exploiting a natural monument. The proposal was scrapped after the state Chamber of Commerce and other groups objected to the state competing with private industry.
Today, the property-- limestone arch, 158-room hotel, gift shop, wax museum, caverns and hiking area -- is being marketed worldwide. Real estate firms are talking to hotel chains.
Private developers would give Virginia a run for its money.
State purchase of privately owned natural wonders certainly is not unheard of, however. North Carolina is purchasing the landmark Chimney Rock Park in Rutherford County, N.C., from the Morse family. The 996-acre park will become the centerpiece of a new state park under development in Hickory Nut Gorge.
If Virginia doesn't have similar interest in Natural Bridge, perhaps the state could encourage a conservation easement. New owners could exchange some development rights on part of the property for cash or tax credits. That would offer assurance that the natural wonder would remain so.
The historic and geologic significance of Natural Bridge, once owned by Thomas Jefferson, is too great to allow careless development to do it harm.
