A Times Editorial

Do homework on water park

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 6, 2000

It's far too soon to determine whether state-owned land along the Cross Florida Barge Canal in Inglis is an appropriate place to build a $100-million white-water park for rafting and kayaking.

But this much is certain; it was premature for the state Board of Trustees to grant the water park's developers conceptual approval at its meeting in late July. Not enough specifics were known about how the project would be financed, or the actual environmental and economic effects it might have on the area.

Gov. Jeb Bush and Attorney General Bob Butterworth, as two members of the Board of Trustees that Florida's Cabinet members comprise, said as much, but were overruled in a 5-2 vote.

The developers, doing business as Rapid Pursuits Inc., were granted one year to come up with financing and more detailed plans to build a competition kayak and raft run near the Inglis Lock Spillway on the Barge Canal.

Organizers say they believe the park would attract more than 1-million visitors each year and generate $400-million in spending in the decidedly rural area. It supposedly would be used by recreational water enthusiasts, as well as a warm-water training spot for competitive kayakers and rafters. If Tampa Bay is successful in its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, the park could be an ideal venue for those events, they say.

There are others who do not share the developers' optimism. They think the economic estimates are exaggerated and oppose constructing a $100-million facility of any type in an environmentally sensitive area frequented by black bears and manatees.

Those are valid concerns. But neither the Cabinet nor the state Department of Environmental Protection, which has tentatively endorsed the plan, could have adequately addressed them unless they had more detailed information. At this early stage, it was not available, and that's the problem.

The developers want to lease 500 acres of the 80,000-acre linear park adjacent to the Barge Canal. They claimed they could not attract a sufficient amount of investment money unless the state first agreed it would lease the land.

That is a backward approach that sets an untenable precedent for the state.

Private sector developers routinely assume the risk for such projects, but usually require detailed plans to attract investors. The state, because it is being asked to offer up publicly owned land, should be no less demanding. In fact, the Board of Trustees has a responsibility to be even more inquiring than a private landowner.

Those criticisms of the approval process aside, we encourage the developers to keep the public informed about the progress of the water park project, which clearly has the potential to +

attract eco-tourists from all over the United States.

At the same time, we urge area residents who are concerned it could harm the environment or wildlife to monitor that progress and listen carefully to ensure the organizers remain true to the plan they presented to the state.

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