Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311280116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bob Rogers' idea, after all, is a "vision," so it takes some imagination to see how it would work.
Think about what the region, from the Roanoke Valley to the New River Valley, has that gives it personality. Easy, right? Mountains and rivers.
Consider - meaning: don't take for granted - the international significance of two major trails running through the valleys. There's one for cars: the Blue Ridge Parkway. And one for hikers: the Appalachian Trail.
Throw in just about everything else in Western Virginia that we sometimes like to think of as "our little secrets": Mountain Lake Conservancy, Smith Mountain and Claytor Lake state parks, Jefferson National Forest, the New River, Explore Park.
Now, the tricky part: Tie it together.
Rogers, a Blacksburg architect, thinks it could be done. His idea is to join these landmarks through a series of signs and brochures into - get ready - an "international park."
For now, though he admits he's not thrilled with the initial moniker, Rogers calls this The Virginia Grande Park. Grande is an acronym for Global Resource for the Arts, Nature, Diversity and Education.
"Essentially, the idea is we recognize there's a lot of stuff here right now," Rogers said, "Therefore, how can it be linked conceptually?"
The New Century Council is a group of business and government leaders from the Roanoke and New River valleys trying to develop a long-range plan to strengthen the region economically. Some of the 80 or so people who attend each planning session agree that Rogers' Grande Park idea is worth a look.
"It's one of those unique things that has come out of the process that nobody has ever thought of before," said Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., the council's director. "It's one of the dreams, and it's a tangible dream."
The "tangible dream" part of Rogers' outlined park could be important to the council; the architect admits one of his goals in putting the plan forward was to give the fledgling council a doable project that brings together the Roanoke and New River valleys.
Even though the council has met five times, some participants fail to see much in common between the two valleys.
"I don't think there are too many things that couldn't be done on a two-valley basis," Rogers said, "but here's something that we could start with."
Rogers believes the conceptual link of the region's landmarks can best be described by drawing a parallel with a national park. The differences between Grande Park and a national park are clear: The national park is self-contained and has one owner; the Grande Park's boundaries would be marked only by its outermost features and would cover more than a dozen jurisdictions.
"Look at the image of the national park," Rogers says. "The people who are workers have distinctive uniforms or buttons that they wear that give it a certain aura of specialness."
Likewise, the Grande Park would have its own logo. The symbol would mark roads on the way from one Grande Park feature to the next; it would be worn by workers at the attractions; it could be used by businesses as mundane as gas stations if they met certain standards of training, operation and marketing.
Features of the park, like Virginia Tech programs at the Hotel Roanoke, would be learning and innovation centers for the region's young people. Welcome centers would be set up at Interstate 81 rest areas, at Roanoke Regional Airport and on major roads coming into the region.
"Grandepark Rangers" would be employed to educate and help visitors at the various features in the park. And a Grande Park training center would be set up to help other regions set up their own parks.
"A lot of people will write it off as totally pie in the sky," Rogers said of the idea, "when we really need to be creating jobs. Of course, one of the main purposes of this is to create jobs."
by CNB