The Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority has voted to put Virginia's Explore Park in the hands of a Missouri company for at least 50 years, but the National Park Service may have the last say.

According to a 1991 letter from VRFA attorney Greg Haley, "In effect, the service will have veto power over structures within view of the parkway extension and over future development plans."

Phil Noblitt, the Park Service's point man on the issue, said the agreement that letter refers to is one reason he asked the VRFA not to vote on the lease before its regularly scheduled April 19 meeting.

"It's illustrative of the kind of thing that would have been better discussed ahead of time," Noblitt said. "The process has been fairly quick and we really haven't had the opportunity to look at our past agreements to see what kind of standing we might have."

Larry Vander Maten, president of Virginia Living Histories, said Friday, "I'm not surprised that there would be some agreements with the parkway. They may have been already discussed between the attorneys."

Explore is on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at milepost 115. The park's main entrance is the $15 million, federally funded Roanoke River Parkway, a spur off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Explore has the only parkway visitors center that's not on parkway land.

"The Blue Ridge Parkway has its reputation, to some extent, on the line here," Noblitt said, "and whatever goes back there we have a keen interest in."

Explore began as a drive by Roanoke Valley business leaders to generate tourism. When they turned to the state for support, the General Assembly created the VRFA and gave it a mandate to create "a recreational attraction," promote tourism and economic development, conserve scenic areas and open space, and foster research and education. The park opened 10 years ago, but state funding has dwindled and attendance has never come close to the 1 million visitors a year the park's founders predicted.

The VRFA voted this week to give Virginia Living Histories broad powers over the park, including the right to lease it to someone else. Vander Maten, the company's president, has offered no details about his plans beyond saying it will not be "Six Flags over Roanoke," it won't have a casino and it will be family-oriented. There will be no more specificity, Vander Maten has said, until pre-development studies are completed. That may take two or three years.

"I don't know so much that it's a matter of the devil in the details because it's not the details, it's the whole proposal that's coming," Noblitt said. "When those plans come forward, we will evaluate them based on the mission and purpose of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We will support them to the extent that they are not contrary to values and to the best interest of our visitors and our resources."

Former Roanoke Mayor Ralph Smith, the VRFA's vice chairman, led the meeting that ended in a unanimous vote for the lease. Smith said Friday he had a dim memory of the agreement in connection to the construction of the Roanoke River Parkway, but it hadn't come up during the board's discussions of its deal with Virginia Living Histories.

"I don't see it as a deterrent or an obstruction," Smith said.

He knew the parkway would play a role in the process, Smith said, though the 1991 agreement describes a more active role than he expected.

"I don't think they'll be obstructionists," Smith said. "Everybody, including the parkway, needs their numbers to increase. I think that forces them to become partners."

Noblitt said the Park Service is willing to work with Explore, which sits squarely in a section of the parkway that Scenic America has dubbed a Last Chance Landscape. But Noblitt also said the Park Service must be mindful of development's impact on the parkway.

"It's certainly not a done deal," he said.