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Maybe they can do it. Neither the state attorney general's office nor the Department of Conservation and Recreation would venture a guess about whether the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority can legally lease Explore Park out for half a century. Ted Povar, associate director of the Charlottesville-based Virginia Institute of Government, called it "a legal question I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole." But Walter Kucharski, the state auditor of public accounts, said he thinks the VRFA has the leeway to do it. He's a little less clear on how the authority can do so without inviting some competition. Self-appointed representatives of the VRFA, the board that oversees Explore Park, have been in closed-door negotiations with a Missouri nonprofit company for more than a year, trying to arrange for the company to take over the park. Explore Park, which has been open for 10 years, has not been able to support itself financially and is facing an uncertain future. A draft of the lease obtained by The Roanoke Times shows the nonprofit Virginia Living Histories would have the power to dismantle Explore Park's living history exhibits, move the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, sublease parts of the 1,155-acre park, mortgage anything the company builds there and avoid paying rent by paying maintenance costs. In return, Virginia Living Histories promises to invest at least $20 million in the park at milepost 115 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Kucharski attaches a string of caveats to his opinion: He's a certified public accountant, not a lawyer. He hasn't researched the authority's enabling legislation. He doesn't know what restrictions might be attached to the deed. But he does know the authority is a political subdivision of the commonwealth. "It literally gives them the power of a local government," Kucharski said. If Explore were a state park, no part of it could be leased for more than 30 years. But Explore, though it was purchased with state funds and is run by a board appointed by the governor, is not a state park. So the board isn't bound by the 30-year limit. The board's immunity to the state's procurement procedures is less clear, Kucharski said. Before the Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act, any significant product or service local governments contracted for had to be bid competitively. Since the act, it's possible to get around the traditional bid procedure. But even the new process requires the opportunity for competition. But that may not matter, according to Kucharski, because state procurement law depends on complaints from potential competitors to drive enforcement. "If nobody complains," he said, "then you can proceed." On the Net: |
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