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Huntington - Advocates for building a lodge and conference center at Beech Fork State Park in Wayne County had reason for optimism this week when a West Virginia Senate committee endorsed a funding plan for the project.
For this legislative session, that means just one step out of many has been taken so far. But it's a good start.
Backers of the project are pushing for passage of Senate Bill 362, which would authorize a bond issue of $52.5 million. Half of that money would be earmarked to build a 75-room lodge with restaurant, indoor swimming pool, meeting facilities and recreation centers at Beech Fork. The bond issue, a way for the state to borrow money, would be paid back through excess lottery revenue in the amount of $3 million a year over 30 years.
Lodge on hold for now. It appears to be a victim of underperforming gas and oil lease revenue.
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goes back more than three decades, and it seemed the project would finally happen in 2012 when Rick Thompson, who at the time was the Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, was able to secure $5.5 million in federal funding for infrastructure costs.
A year later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved a feasibility study for the project, another key hurdle.
Lorenson's letter states decreasing state lottery revenues will likely lead to a decrease in coverage ratios for bond issues. It goes on to say the state hasn't seen the revenue it anticipated from lease agreements in the oil and natural gas industry to pay for the project.
"Given the current uncertainty as to the viability of the funding sources ... a clear timeline cannot be established for further progress on the project," Lorenson wrote.
I wonder if it would be possible to rally some local support around this project. Maybe if people in the area get loud enough, the boys in Charleston might get a little nervous and try to fix this.
This is a needed project for the area. There is nothing like it in that part of the state, and it would be a wonderful addition to the Metro Valley. I know something the size of Stonewall is a far from happening, but I think that Stonewall is a good model to go by.
Letting a private entity build and operate it on state land makes sense. In that manner, scarce tax money is not involved, and there is precedence for that model working.
This is a needed project for the area. There is nothing like it in that part of the state, and it would be a wonderful addition to the Metro Valley. I know something the size of Stonewall is a far from happening, but I think that Stonewall is a good model to go by.
Per the article above, they are following the model of Chief Logan State Park. Chief Logan is supposedly the only profitable state park. The article also states that Beech Fork is the #1 most attended state park as well as being the largest camp ground. It seems that a new lodge would really add to that.
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Currently, the only profitable state park is Chief Logan State Park, which has a lodge that the Beech Fork lodge would be modeled after. Beech Fork is the number one attended park in the state.
Hope remains alive for a lodge at Beech Fork State Park in Wayne County and improvements to Capacon State Park in Morgan County after the House of Delegates passed an appropriations bill under the wire of Saturday’s midnight deadline for the 2015 session of the West Virginia Legislature.
The bill, which was amended by the Senate to resurrect the park projects on Friday, would require Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to issue $52 million in bonds for the park upgrades before he could access funds to plug a gap in the state budget.
The bond issue had been passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Tomblin in 2012.
“Will (Tomblin) veto it? Maybe,” said Del. Don Perdue, D-Wayne. “But if he does, it puts access to that funding into question. I think it creates a very strong impetus for him to sell those bonds.”
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