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Hikers, mountain bikers, history buffs, the National Park Service and even Virginia state senators are wondering what's next for Virginia's Explore Park. "I'd like to know more about it," said state Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke. "The devil's always in the details with these things." The thing in this case is a proposed 50-year lease of Virginia's Explore Park to a Missouri nonprofit company. The company, Virginia Living Histories, was formed in 2000 as Western Living Histories. Then its mission was to teach people about the Old West and to involve them in re-enactments of "early western daily activities." Led by nursing home owner and manager Larry Vander Maten, the company changed its name in October. It registered with Virginia's State Corporation Commission in February. Virginia Living Histories' latest filings with the Internal Revenue Service show no activity in any history-related endeavor. Roanoke County Supervisor Mike Altizer plans to host a community meeting about the proposed lease at Explore Park on March 23. Members of Explore's board of directors will be there, Altizer said. He's trying to get Vander Maten there, too. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. It will last, the supervisor said, until every question is answered. The Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the board that oversees Explore, hasn't released the contract, though board chairman Fred Altizer and Greg Haley, the board's attorney, said last week it was time to let the public in on the details. Stan Lanford, a board member who has been directly involved in the yearlong secretive negotiations, vetoed the release. State Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County, said Monday that he hadn't seen the contract. "It's one of those balancing acts of keeping the public informed without scaring off your private investor," he said. That, Bell said, could create problems. Roanoke County's funding deal with the park ends in June 2006, the same time the latest batch of state money runs out. The financially troubled 1,100-acre park along the Blue Ridge Parkway has struggled to find both an audience and a consistent source of financial support since before its opening in 1994. Edwards said Tuesday he hadn't seen a draft of the lease, either, but he doesn't think it will tell him what he really wants to know, anyway. "It's not going to say what he's going to do," Edwards said. Even before Vander Maten officially entered the picture, Gary Johnson, the Blue Ridge Parkway's landscape architect, was worried about what might be done at Explore. Park and county staff and officials have discussed a recreational vehicle campground, a 15,000-seat amphitheater, hotels, restaurants, and stores. "I've been getting kind of concerned about some of these ideas I'd heard batted around," said Johnson, who works for the National Park Service. Meetings meant to develop a master plan for the park stretched on for months without a cohesive plan, in Johnson's view. "They weren't working on a master plan," he said. "They were working on ideas." Johnson got so concerned several months ago that he talked to Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge about it. Johnson said Hodge told him there was an investor interested in the park. Vander Maten hasn't said what he plans to do with the park if his company leases it. He couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. But the list of possibilities has been expanded to include a water park and a theme park. "I think a theme park or something of that nature would be a major draw," said John Nettles, president of the Star City Striders. Nettles helped administer a recent race on Explore's trails, and he's run there often. "They can have the commercial side of it," Nettles said. "That's all fine and good." But the trails, the greenway and other areas should remain free to the public, he said. Scott Perkins moved to the Roanoke Valley two years ago. He and his two sons enjoy hiking in Explore and visiting the living history exhibits. He's not against development, but he's concerned about it. "The degree to which they would compromise the integrity of what's already there concerns me," Perkins said. "It would be horrible if it turned into something that is overly commercial." Chris and Bob Peckman praised Explore's living history program. They visited the park with two friends, historians from Denmark. "They said it was the most interesting, the most informative visit in their whole time in the United States," Chris Peckman said. "We were absolutely stunned, too," her husband Bob Peckman added. Putting a theme park there would mean losing something special, in his opinion. "The park is magnificent and unique," he said. "The people who made it gave so much thought to making something really, really fine." Chris Peckman is worried about the person who may control the park's operation for five decades. "He appears to have no credentials whatsoever," she said. "That's pretty scary." Alyce Quinn, president of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club, hasn't had such a wonderful experience with Explore. Her club arranged a bird-watching walk. Someone else scheduled a bike race on the same day on the same trail. She sounds ambivalent about the possibility of Explore sprouting a theme park, stores, and restaurants. "That doesn't really sound much in keeping with the spirit of Explore Park," she said. "Then again, hasn't Colonial Williamsburg kind of gone commercial like that? Maybe you can have both." |
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