Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER NOTE: Above
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When Brian Duncan arrived at work at 7:15 a.m. Thursday, the messages were already on his voice mail: bring the Walt Disney Co. to the Roanoke Valley.
The experience of Roanoke County's assistant economic development chief was hardly unique. Like much of the rest of the state, Disney fever has struck the Roanoke Valley.
As the mirage of the Magic Kingdom quickly fades in Prince William County, officials and business people are eagerly hoping they can slide a billion-dollar glass slipper over the mountainous toes of Southwest Virginia.
Members of Congress, local politicians and regional officials swung into action with a flurry of phone calls after Disney yanked its plans for a 3,000-acre, $650 million theme park in Haymarket.
Staffers at the Regional Partnership of Roanoke Valley were deluged with calls from residents and business leaders asking the partnership to arrange a meeting with Disney. Nobody was the least bit worried about a sprawl of trinket shops and burger stands.
"Everybody loves Disney, at least all the locals do. They'd love to see it down here," said Richard Beard, the partnership's marketing director.
In Washington, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, phoned Disney's government affairs office to make a pitch for a theme park in Western Virginia.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, on Thursday scheduled meetings with Disney managers and issued a statement calling on politicians and businessmen to flood Disney CEO Michael Eisner's Los Angeles office with faxes and telegrams. Boucher's statement even listed Eisner's phone number.
"I am strongly urging Disney to construct the project in Southwest Virginia. ... Our region would welcome the high-paying jobs and economic opportunities the project would bring," Boucher said.
Sam Garrison, a lawyer and Democratic activist, called upon the New Century Council, politicians and leaders of Explore Park to meet together quickly.
"This is a golden opportunity for our valley to do something that is long overdue. ... My appeal is to area political leaders to start acting like they're on the same team, regardless of where the boundaries are," Garrison said.
Their hopes may be for naught, however. While the Disney company said on Thursday that it still intends to build a theme park somewhere in the state, officials in the administration of Gov. George Allen fear the company may pack its millions of dollars and leave for good.
One source close to the Allen administration said officials there believe the company's statement was a face-saving measure for the governor. He spent a lot of political capital ramming an unprecedented $160 million infrastructure package for Disney through the state legislature this year, his first.
"Disney spent three to four years painstakingly and quietly buying up land," the source said. "Now their cover's blown. They're going to have to pay exorbitant rates anywhere they do in Virginia. The atmosphere that allowed this to develop in the first place can't be duplicated."
There is, however, one place that may be tailor-made for a historical theme park: Explore, the state-operated frontier history park that opened this year after a decade of controversy and effort.
Somewhat ironically, a few locals claim Disney stole the idea for its own history theme park from Explore, which saw its original concept vastly watered down for lack of funding.
Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, Explore's 1,500 acres seem almost ready-made for what Disney envisions. But the site is only half the 3,000 acres the company bought for launching the theme park off Interstate 66 in Haymarket.
The park is overseen by the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority. The governor stocked the authority with GOP allies this summer when some of the board members' terms expired.
"It may be that this would be a source of funding - which has been nonexistent for some time - for a concept that was much closer to the original Explore," Garrison said.
Trixie Averill, chairwoman of the authority, said she spoke Thursday with Secretary of Commerce and Trade Robert Skunda and pushed the Roanoke Valley as a site for Disney's plans.
"Whether or not [Explore and Disney] would want to merge, I'm not in a position to say at this time. We're not ready to shut our doors, but we're not ready to bow down and say, 'We're here, come take us,' either," Averill said.
Rupert Cutler, Explore's executive director, said he'd given no thought to a Disney takeover, but said that area leaders should offer the valley as an alternative location.
However, Cutler said his hunch is that Disney wants a location with higher traffic, despite the fact that 10 million tourists pass by Roanoke on Interstate 81 each year.
Staff writer Dwayne Yancey contributed information to this story.
by CNB