THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 8, 1996 TAG: 9608080387
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 74 lines
The North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island won't be renovated and expanded this year after all.
What had been considered a done deal has fallen through because there's no state money for the project.
An ambitious $10-million plan that would have more than doubled the size of the 20-year-old facility was foiled when the state General Assembly eliminated any money for capital improvements in the state budget.
``It just didn't receive any support,'' state Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Manteo, said of the aquarium appropriation. ``This session of the General Assembly did not lean toward funding capital projects.''
The request for the Roanoke Island facility improvements was part of the governor's budget request. Virtually all money for capital improvements was slashed from the final budget compromise.
Basnight said this year was the first in his memory that the state has allocated virtually no money for building projects.
Rep. William Culpepper, D-Edenton, blamed Republican House leaders.
``The House leadership was intent on holding down spending and the House version of the budget had no capital in it,'' Culpepper said.
Culpepper said legislators were concerned about shortfalls from lawsuits against the state stemming from protests of the intangibles tax, in addition to the financial impact from impending welfare reform.
Rhett White, former head of the Roanoke Island attraction and now director of North Carolina Aquariums division, said he had wind of the cut about a month ago during the regular short session, but he maintained some hope that funds could be found for the aquariums before the end of the second short session.
``We were disappointed,'' White said Wednesday from his Raleigh office. ``The staff at the aquarium had been very excited about seeing ground-breaking this fall. It would have been a great way to celebrate the 20th anniversary.''
White was the aquarium director until June 1, when he was named director of all three state aquariums. He said he still oversees the Outer Banks facility while seeking a replacement for his vacated position.
Aquarium officials in March expressed optimism that a total of $30 million for expansion of the three aquariums would be forthcoming. In addition to Roanoke Island, facilities are also located at Pine Knoll Shores near Atlantic Beach and Fort Fisher near Wilmington.
The state appropriated $1.3 million in 1994 and $1.2 million in 1995 for preliminary design work for the facilities. The additional $30 million was to be divvied up in $10 million shares for each aquarium, with Roanoke Island first in line.
White said the design work and construction drawings should be completed at Roanoke Island by year's end, and at the other facilities by the end of 1997.
Plans call for the Roanoke Island aquarium to expand from 34,000 square feet to 71,038 square feet. Proposed new attractions include a half-round tunnel with a view into ``Life in the Graveyard of the Atlantic,'' - a 185,000-gallon tank stocked with sharks, rays, sea turtles and other native marine life; a display of river otters; and wading birds at the saltwater marsh habitat.
White said based on the fact that the state has already been willing to support the aquariums, in addition to some encouraging conversations with state agencies, he is ``very optimistic'' that the funds will be returned to the next budget.
``Certainly, we hope that the governor will put it into the capital improvement budget request for next year,'' White said.
In the meantime, he said, admittance fees may be able to fund some small improvements. But the big changes are going to have to wait for the big dollars.
``There won't be any building unless we allocate those funds,'' Basnight said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Aquarium officials and legislators are optimistic that the expansion
will take place. The facility would double in size. by CNB