Pyramid State Park Sellout .....................
ILLINOIS FEDERATION FOR OUTDOOR RESOURCES
P. O. BOX 5
GODFREY, ILLINOIS 62035
June 21, 2007
Dear Editor,
Many articles regarding a possible land swap of 2000 acres of public lands at Pyramid State Park for other land in Perry County have recently appeared in several Illinois newspapers. As President of the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, a not-for- profit statewide organization with over 100 Conservation groups as members totaling in excess of 75,000 Outdoorsmen & women, I would like to offer some comments regarding this issue on behalf of our membership.
Some articles and letters to various editors statewide have indicated the only opposition to the “swap” comes from Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Audubon society. Nothing could be further from the truth, in addition to the Environmental Groups mentioned, members of our organization including hunters, fishermen, field trialer’s, and trail riders who use the area in question are opposed. Also opposed are the majority of the people of Illinois who are interested in preserving what few open lands we have remaining in Illinois and they want to maintain those recreational areas for everyone to use and they see this swap of public land as a violation of the public trust.
The land in question was purchased with Open Land Trust (OLT) fund monies which are designated for Open Lands to be used for recreational purposes. Federal funds nearing one million dollars have been spent to build boat docks and improve wetland habitat for migrating geese and ducks. Private funds have been used to improve parking areas for the use by Groups who recreate at Pyramid State Park. With the “Super Lake” a great waterfowl refuge, being located on the 2,000 acres in question, the chance of finding suitable habitat to replace it would be next to impossible.
While development of the area has been slower than all of us would like we know the States financial status is in dire straits. Not only has this site been subject to low funding, so have our schools, pension funds, and medical care providers have been short changed in recent years.
IFOR does support economic development in Perry County, but we strongly believe this land swap would best serve the interests of all concerned if it was done on private lands without setting a precedence of using valuable State public lands for private enterprise. Illinois at last report ranks 48th out of 50 States for public land ownership. We cannot afford to lose any more land or swap for lesser quality land. This “swap’ if carried out could also result in possible litigation by Federal Agencies and by others for the misuse of public funds that were designated for specific purposes and would be a violation of the Public’s trust in our Officials for not protecting those lands we have put under their care and which were paid for with our tax dollars.
We call upon the Illinois General Assembly to put the issue to rest by removing the land swap amendment, Senate Amendment #4, from HB 29 and withdrawing and/or defeating SJR0064.
For further information about IFOR visit our web site at http://www.if-or.org/.
Sincerely,
C E Becker
C. E. (Bob) Becker
President
Phone/Fax (618) 466-2582E-Mail: iforpresbob@sbcglobal.net
P. O. BOX 5
GODFREY, ILLINOIS 62035
June 21, 2007
Dear Editor,
Many articles regarding a possible land swap of 2000 acres of public lands at Pyramid State Park for other land in Perry County have recently appeared in several Illinois newspapers. As President of the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, a not-for- profit statewide organization with over 100 Conservation groups as members totaling in excess of 75,000 Outdoorsmen & women, I would like to offer some comments regarding this issue on behalf of our membership.
Some articles and letters to various editors statewide have indicated the only opposition to the “swap” comes from Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Audubon society. Nothing could be further from the truth, in addition to the Environmental Groups mentioned, members of our organization including hunters, fishermen, field trialer’s, and trail riders who use the area in question are opposed. Also opposed are the majority of the people of Illinois who are interested in preserving what few open lands we have remaining in Illinois and they want to maintain those recreational areas for everyone to use and they see this swap of public land as a violation of the public trust.
The land in question was purchased with Open Land Trust (OLT) fund monies which are designated for Open Lands to be used for recreational purposes. Federal funds nearing one million dollars have been spent to build boat docks and improve wetland habitat for migrating geese and ducks. Private funds have been used to improve parking areas for the use by Groups who recreate at Pyramid State Park. With the “Super Lake” a great waterfowl refuge, being located on the 2,000 acres in question, the chance of finding suitable habitat to replace it would be next to impossible.
While development of the area has been slower than all of us would like we know the States financial status is in dire straits. Not only has this site been subject to low funding, so have our schools, pension funds, and medical care providers have been short changed in recent years.
IFOR does support economic development in Perry County, but we strongly believe this land swap would best serve the interests of all concerned if it was done on private lands without setting a precedence of using valuable State public lands for private enterprise. Illinois at last report ranks 48th out of 50 States for public land ownership. We cannot afford to lose any more land or swap for lesser quality land. This “swap’ if carried out could also result in possible litigation by Federal Agencies and by others for the misuse of public funds that were designated for specific purposes and would be a violation of the Public’s trust in our Officials for not protecting those lands we have put under their care and which were paid for with our tax dollars.
We call upon the Illinois General Assembly to put the issue to rest by removing the land swap amendment, Senate Amendment #4, from HB 29 and withdrawing and/or defeating SJR0064.
For further information about IFOR visit our web site at http://www.if-or.org/.
Sincerely,
C E Becker
C. E. (Bob) Becker
President
Phone/Fax (618) 466-2582E-Mail: iforpresbob@sbcglobal.net
Voice of the reader 6-22
A beautiful place
To the Editor:
The Illinois Audubon Society appreciates and supports Perry County board of commissioners' desire to invite development opportunities within their county. However, we disagree with Chairman James Booker's assertion that opposing interests "couldn't even locate Perry County on a map."
In the spring of 2006, hosted by Kaskaskia Valley Audubon Society, Illinois Audubon held its annual spring meeting in Du Quoin and Pinckneyville. Our membership had wonderful opportunities to bird throughout the area, with Pyramid State Park being everyone's favorite locale.
Although we could focus our opposition of swapping valuable grassland and wetland habitat on the plan's devastating impact to endangered and threatened bird species, we would rather focus on the issue of public trust.
Illinois ranks last in the Midwest in state-owned protected land. Illinois public land that does exist was purchased by Illinois taxpayers and is held in public trust. If state government sets the precedent of swapping public land for other land parcels, or by selling public land for economic gain, the frightening question remains - where does this action end?
Illinois could gain by selling lakefront property for development at Illinois Beach State Park or parcels within Starved Rock, Pere Marquette or Giant City. Although those actions seem preposterous, if public land at Pyramid State Park is parlayed, we again must ask, where does this action end?
If Illinois compromises the finite, public-owned and protected land, the public trust would be violated.
Tom Clay - Executive Director, Illinois Audubon Society, Springfield
Environmentalists: Nexus Land Swap Would Divide Pyramid Park into Halves, Maybe Thirds
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 12:27 PM CDT
Wednesday, June 20, 2007 12:27 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - The Toney Watkins Company on Tuesday said its plan to develop a destination and convention resort called the Nexus in western Perry County will "revitalize" the region.
"The Toney Watkins Company was formed for the sole purpose of creating the Nexus project," said Jacquie Vick of TWC's corporate communications department. "Toney has certainly done a very good job of pooling his resources to make sure that he has the best and the brightest people in his camp."
Vick also credited the company's board of directors with plenty of experience in the entertainment industry. "We have pretty impressive resumes in terms of background," Vick said. She cited Ron Logan, president of the company's entertainment division. Logan has spent more than 40 years in the entertainment industry, the last 22 as executive vice president and executive producer for Walt Disney Entertainment. "His global role was to also support the Walt Disney Company in establishing worldwide, maximizing synergistic entertainment opportunities in support of all company business units," says the TWC Web site.
On Tuesday, the company gave more specifics on attractions at the site it hopes to develop in western Perry County. Initiatives touted in the plan include an agreement with Animated Family Films from South Africa to relocate part of its operations to the Nexus and to produce and manufacture some or all of its film, DVD and other related products in Perry County. AFF would construct a back lot on-site in Perry County, Vick said.
Other music venues at the site would include Tropical Beat Television, a corporation that produces music concerts and television shows, and CM Studio of Benld, Ill., which plans to develop what the company says would be the world's largest dinosaur museum.
But there are several bridges to cross before any development plans could move forward.
TWC representatives are currently targeting a 2,000-acre tract in Pyramid State Park as part of the proposed development, but officials at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as well as environmental groups say any land swap raises several questions.
"We don't know what their proposals are--we've not met with them," said Chris McCloud of the IDNR this morning. "I don't have any idea what land (in Pyramid) they're talking about."
McCloud said the department would not meet with representatives from the company until legislators pass a bill giving IDNR authority to negotiate on a land swap.
Meanwhile, environmental groups say they would oppose the land exchange at the state park hands-down. "Illinois is not in the business of selling off state park land," said Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council in Springfield. "We're very concerned about the precedent that presents." Goldman says that while the environmental groups he represents--including the Audobon society and the Southern Illinois Audobon Society--are not opposed to the development as a whole, they are concerned about any land exchange at Pyramid.
"They want to take state park land that basically would divide in half the largest state park in Illinois and then add a parcel, so we'd go from one big state park to three little parks," Goldman said. "It would pretty much destroy a pretty important habitat area that's been nationally recognized."
Goldman said that while the land targeted is currently leased for farmers, the ground is used for haying and lends itself to a natural grassland habitat for several species of birds. State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, has said that he believes the company's best option is to secure ground from private land owners instead of counting on any land swap. McCloud of IDNR agreed. "The fact of the matter is, the land swap is not nearly as close on our radar screen as people make it out to be," McCloud said.
--Craig Shrum
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/14/local_news/news2.txt
Sparrows Line Up Against Land Swap
Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:23 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - After meeting opposition last week from environmental groups over a proposed land swap at Pyramid State Park, the Toney Watkins Company is continuing negotiations with private land owners in western Perry County.
In a telephone interview this morning, state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said that buying the needed land from a private owner would be a "better route" for the company than exchanging land from the state park.
"One of the real problems with the land swap--and we knew that ahead of time--would be that there would be an awful lot of opposition," Luechtefeld said. "The environmental groups are really opposed to this, so they're going to fight it--there's no question about it.
"Luechtefeld said he understands the Toney Watkins Company and a private land owner in western Perry County have been holding talks throughout the week.
"We're hoping that succeeds--that's the best way to go," Luechtefeld said. "It's cleaner, it's quicker, and the other route (a land swap) you may not be able to do anyway because of the opposition."
Geri Boyer, project engineer for Kaskaskia Engineering Group of Belleville, said this morning that the Toney Watkins Company has maintained a dialogue with private land holders even as lawmakers in Springfield considered trading state park acreage with the developers.
"We have been continuing to talk to private land owners in the area, but we are still pursuing the state park property," said Boyer, whose firm has worked with the Toney Watkins Company for the last 10 months on developing the proposed convention resort.
"We have been continually pursuing private property at the same time we're trying to push the land swap because we need to keep every option open," Boyer said.
If developers can secure land needed for the site, the Toney Watkins Company says it wants to build a destination that would include a convention center, golf courses, a BMX bike trail patterned after the course designed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and multiple hotels.
The plan has been the talk of the town in Perry County for the last few years but in recent weeks became known publicly after state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, introduced a bill in the House that would allow the state's Department of Natural Resources to swap 2,000 acres at Pyramid State Park to developers.
Reitz and Luechtefeld said any land swap would require the company to pay a 10 percent bond on the property and require the Toney Watkins Company to exchange a parcel of "equal size and attributes" to the park.Environmentalists question whether IDNR should exchange land currently under the state park system. Environmental groups also say the land swap could endanger rare birds, including the Henslow's sparrow, which nest in grasslands at the park.
Boyer said environmental lobbyist Jonathan Goldman has been in contact with her and that a site visit to acreage under the proposed land swap will be arranged in the future with environmental groups.
"We want to see this project built in Perry County," Boyer said.--Craig Shrum
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/opinion/stories/116600.asp
Our Opinion
Published Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Resort plan awfully vague
Few places could use an economic boost more than southern Illinois. But forgive us for being a bit dubious about the secretive plans to develop a resort that supposedly would rival Branson, Mo., and bring 2,500 jobs to the economically struggling area.
Our skepticism might be eased a bit if just a teensy weensy bit of information were released about this huge proposal.
At this point we know just enough to know that it sounds rather too good to be true. According to some, the situation may be further complicated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanting to make some grand announcement about this project.
But from what few details are available, one has to wonder how realistic the early promises of a bigger-than-Branson development really are. It’s always easy to talk about grandiose development - it’s a lot more difficult to deliver on the talk - especially $100 million investments.
A case in point, one that also involves Gov. Blagojevich, is Destination Springfield. Remember that? Probably not, because after some giant conceptual talk of changing the face of downtown Springfield, the proposal pretty much faded away.
Blagojevich had a concept for remaking historic downtown Springfield into something resembling Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. While the concept always seemed a bit nebulous, artists’ sketches were drawn up and there was even talk of beginning a bidding process to try to interest developers in building a lodge and restaurant within the confines of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
The Destination Springfield “imagineers” also talked about developing a top-notch new golf course along the bluffs of the Sangamon River - turns out a private developer has already done that in Petersburg - and even having the Lincoln Home site declared a full-fledged national park.
Blagojevich apparently developed the idea after visiting Colonial Williamsburg. It was a nice thought - at least he was thinking of Springfield even if most of the thinking was done in Chicago. But it didn’t take long for this “plan” to fall apart. That’s because it was not realistic.
As much as the governor wanted to see the national park designation and a fancy new lodge and downtown Springfield transformed into an 1850s theme park, no one drove into town with a freight train loaded with money to make the project possible.
We truly hope the deal in southern Illinois has a better chance of becoming reality. While Springfield will do just fine without having a national park on Ninth Street, southern Illinois really badly needs a $100 million investment and 2,500 jobs. It would be truly cruel to hold out a promise with little chance of coming true.
Destination Springfield was merely an idea. This project comes with a developer attached - the Toney Watkins Co. of Glen Carbon. The company wants to swap 2,000 acres of land it owns for 2,000 state-owned acres in the Pyramid State Recreation Area. State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, defended the company’s secrecy, saying it could drive up land prices beyond the firm’s reach.
That comment alone made us pause. If a company cannot afford to buy the land, can it really afford a $100 million investment? We’d love to see some solid answers to those kind of questions before the state goes too far on any deal, and before it gets people’s expectations raised too high.
And until more information becomes available, we’d suggest heading to the company’s Web site at www.toneywatkins.com. We think you might find it interesting in its vagueness.
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/13/top/20574710.txt
Developer wants Branson-like resort without Branson-like traffic jams
Published on: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 7:05 AM CDT
By Kurt Erickson, The Southern Springfield bureau
SPRINGFIELD - Developers of a proposed resort area in Southern Illinois point to Branson, Mo. as an example of what their project could someday become.At the same time, however, they say they are working hard to avoid one element of the Branson experience: Traffic jams.
Geri Boyer, an engineer heading up planning efforts for the proposed resort complex near Pinckneyville, said Tuesday that the company has spent more than a year assessing traffic patterns in the region in hopes of avoiding the pitfalls that come when massive amounts of people descend on a mostly rural region.
"Almost all of my efforts have been concentrated on understanding the dynamics of the traffic and how much traffic this site development would bring to the area," said Boyer.
Boyer works for the Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co., which has proposed swapping the state for land at Pyramid State Park in Perry County to build a resort area.
Despite behind-the-scenes planning by the likes of Boyer and other engineers, the project only came to light two weeks ago when the land swap idea was floated by state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville.
Although the project faces potentially stiff opposition from environmental groups, the company and its political backers are proceeding with the plans, pointing to the massive infusion of people and money in resort areas like Branson and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Boyer said she visited with officials in both of those regions, where traffic jams are commonplace.
"We studied Branson. We studied Pigeon Forge. We've looked at all the problems they've had," she said. "We want to do the opposite. We want to make sure we have a good transportation plan in place.
"That is also the top advice from an official in Branson, where, despite on-going road improvement projects, traffic jams still occur.
"Traffic is going to be the main problem," said Branson city spokesman Jerry Adams. "If people don't have a pleasant experience, they probably won't come back.
"According to a study of the transportation system around Pinckneyville, Boyer found that the two-lane roads crisscrossing the area operate at just 12 percent of capacity, meaning no major widening is needed -for now.
However, intersections in the area will need to be improved and a bottleneck in the center of Pinckneyville will need to be addressed.
A bypass around Pinckneyville has been in the state's long-range transportation plan for several years, but it has never received funding. It would route traffic on Illinois Routes 127, 154 and 13 away from the courthouse square.
"It would be considered our No. 1 priority for transportation in the area," said Boyer.
"Pinckneyville is a problem right now that the state is trying to solve.
"While taxpayers across the state will be on the hook for the cost of many of the road improvement projects, Boyer said the Toney Watkins Co. has committed to paying for some of the upgrades.
"We're not going to be asking the state or the federal government to put all the money up for roads. The developer will actually contribute too," said Boyer.Adams said Branson officials have paid for an estimated $41 million in road projects through the proceeds of a local sales tax that was imposed in 1991.
The next step for the Perry County project could come Thursday when the Illinois Senate may take up the issue of the proposed land swap.
(Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 217-789-0865)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/F009954F56566497862572F9001631F2?OpenDocument
As vague as it is, theme park proposal brings hope to Pinckneyville
By Kevin McDermottand Erik Potter
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
06/13/2007
PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. — It's still a vague dream with little tangible detail. If it ever does become a reality, it won't necessarily be located in Southern Illinois. Even one of the developers warns that speculation about the thing has been "blown out of proportion.
"Yet the mere whisper of a huge Branson-like vacation park near Pinckneyville has got local officials excitedly pondering the pressures they would face as a national tourism destination.
"As mayor, I know there's going to be traffic issues, pressures on our social services. There's probably going to be a large influx of people during a small period of time," said Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder.
Given all the practical and political questions still surrounding the proposed theme park, the comments may qualify Holder as the most optimistic mayor in Illinois. Or maybe just the most desperate.
The collapse of Illinois' coal industry in the past decade rolled through Pinckneyville like an economic earthquake, and the aftershocks continue. In March, a DVD-production plant moved to Mexico and took with it 900 jobs. As of April, surrounding Perry County's unemployment rate stood at 8 percent, the highest in the state.
"(Townspeople) are very excited and hopeful that this project will take place," said Holder, whose town of 5,400 sits just north of the proposed theme park. "The area has suffered some bad luck. The people of Pinckneyville might just be a little traumatized, wondering, 'Is anything stable?'
"Those people include Elaine Bigham, a hair stylist in town for 18 years, who said she would welcome the theme park if it meant an economic boost. "We're going downhill fast. You can't even buy a pair of shoes in town.
"Supporters have described what could be the new Branson, Mo.: a destination spot for tourists from all over the country, offering entertainment, golf and other vacation activities. Though the project so far is mostly concept, with little detail, the Branson comparison has sparked imaginations here.
"I remember going down to Branson 30 years ago and seeing what it wasn't, and my husband and I just went back a year ago and we didn't know what to do first," said Liz Wilson, a Pinckneyville real estate agent.
'If supporters of the nascent project seem to be jumping the gun, so do the opponents. State legislation to allow a land swap with developers — giving them 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park near Pinckneyville, in exchange for the same acreage of private land — is viewed as an unlikely last resort by even the legislators who sponsored the bill. Yet some opponents of the land-swap idea are pegging it as an environmental threat and a dangerous precedent.
"Certainly I'm not opposed to the idea of bringing development to Southern Illinois, but it's really a bad idea to do it by taking a big chunk of a state park," said Joe Merkelbach, a Centralia resident who has stood on both sides of the nature-vs.-jobs debate. Merkelbach is among the 900 people who lost his job at the Pinckneyville DVD factory in March. He's also president of the Southern Illinois Audubon Society, which warns that breaking up the state's biggest contiguous state park for private developers could have a devastating effect on some species of birds.
The sudden swirl of debate in Pinckneyville and Springfield over the project arose earlier this month, when state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, filed legislation allowing the potential land swap. Although Reitz and other downstate lawmakers had been talking informally to developers for more than a year, this was the first that most of the state had heard of the proposal.
There remains only basic information about the development plans — or the developers, Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based company incorporated in Illinois in 2004. It's named after the company's chairman and founder. The company's mission statement is to "create and develop a multi-faceted/multi-use convention and destination resort." Developers envision a $100 million recreational theme-park tourism destination, including music entertainment venues, golf courses, a BMX bike-racing facility and other amenities. They ultimately hope to have 5,000 acres of land under the project.
Legislative supporters have said they believe the project ultimately will rest on private land.
Environmentalists are skeptical. "If that's the case, then why are they suddenly pushing (land-swap) legislation through in the final days of the General Assembly," said Jonathan Goldman of the Springfield-based Illinois Environmental Council.
Both supporters and opponents may be giving the issue more debate than it yet merits. Chicago attorney Walter R. Dale, general counsel and vice president for the Toney Watkins Co., told the Post-Dispatch last week that the company hasn't even settled on Illinois as the site of the project. "Nothing's been decided. We're looking at various sites," said Dale. "I think (the Illinois debate) has been blown out of proportion."
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/12/local_news/news2.txt
Developer: Perry County Is No. 1 Choice for Convention Site
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 1:27 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - If developers proposing a convention resort in western Perry County can clear several hurdles--including concerns from environmental group about a possible land swap with Pyramid State Park--Southern Illinois is the location of choice for a development that proponents say would bring over 2,500 jobs to the area.
"This is the site that they are settling on, that they want to be at," said Geri Boyer, project engineer for Belleville's Kaskaskia Engineering Group, which has worked for the last 10 months with the Toney Watkins Company of Glen Carbon to establish a convention destination in Perry County.
Boyer said in a telephone interview this morning that although previous statements from the Toney Watkins Company indicated other sites across the country had also been under consideration, Perry County is where the company wants to build its 10,000-acre development.
"If everything comes together, it's clear to go for Perry County," Boyer said.
Developers are ready to begin construction at the site as early as this fall, should the proposal clear legislative hurdles.
"We've been meeting with legislators ongoing for probably the last year," Boyer said. "We met with environmentalists last Thursday in Springfield, along with Sen. (Dave) Luechtefeld and Rep. (Dan) Reitz."Reitz, a Steeleville Democrat, asked fellow House members last week to approve a measure authorizing the state's Department of Natural Resources to exchange 2,000 acres at Pyramid State Park with the Toney Watkins Company for comparably priced land.
Reitz said the bill would require a 10 percent bond payment from the corporation on the appraised price of acreage from Pyramid. The company would also have to meet other criteria set forth by the IDNR before moving forward on any land swap that might be approved in the future.
"All this bill does is give IDNR the right to transfer land if this group meets all the standards that they have to meet," Luechtefeld said last week. "It's not a bill that says it (the land) will be transferred--all it does is give them the power to transfer if this group meets all the requirements.
"However, several environmental groups contacted by Reitz--including the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Council and Open Spaces--have questioned whether or not the state should approve a land swap involving acreage currently under the state park system. The environmental groups have are also concerned the convention site would endanger rare birds, including the Henslow's sparrow, in the grasslands at the park.
Boyer said this morning that the Toney Watkins company is continuing dialogue with the environmental groups and said the organizations agreed to e-mail their members for comments regarding the proposed land swap.
"We're going to get back with them and see how we can deal meet with everybody's expectations," Boyer said. "We're just waiting for their constituents to get back with them so that we don't go through this three or four times" before construction.
As early as October, work could begin at the site's first golf course, which Boyer says would be called the World Course.And developers also are targeting Olympic BMX trials prior to the 2008 Olympics in China, Boyer said.
"The BMX bicycle facility is ready to go, because we are going to build the exact replica of the facility that's being built for the Beijing Olympics so that we can run those trials for the Olympic event," Boyer said.
Once the BMX trail and the golf course are built, Boyer says the complex's first hotel would be the next project for construction workers.All told, several hotels will be built, including long-term stay accommodations for visitors who will be training at the site, Boyer said. Larger hotels would be built at a later stage of the project's development.
Boyer said that Teens on the Green, a youth golf organization, plans to move its learning center to the Perry County site and would bring in young golfers throughout the year. The BMX trail would attract competitors year-round, as well."What we're hoping is that bringing people in for these additional events will spark more use of the World Shooting Complex, also," Boyer said.
That attraction, just north of Sparta in Randolph County, regularly draws competitors and their families to the shooting center.And the Toney Watkins Company plans to add some entertainment of its own to its convention resort. Boyer said the company still plans a complex themed around music of all genres.
The company said in a press release e-mailed to regional media outlets on Monday that it has remained silent on the proposed development so far because of a misunderstanding with the state's economic development agency.
"The lack of communication with area media was based on a misinterpretation of communications that we had with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity outlining various state economic development programs that potentially could be available," said Toney Watkins, company CEO. "I apologize for any difficulties this may have caused.
The release says that should the land swap at Pyramid be approved, the company would exchange a parcel of "equal size and attributes" for the park, and that the company would also give the state funds for improvement of those acres.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday quoted Boyer as saying that the DCEO told representatives from the Toney Watkins Company to refrain from talking with the press until Gov. Rod Blagojevich formally announces the project.
However, in an interview with the Associated Press, Boyer said there was "just a misunderstanding" and that the DCEO told developers they could not discuss any negotiations with the state publicly. Boyer said the company believed that meant they could not discuss the project publicly at all.
More details on the project should be announced next week, Boyer said.
--Craig Shrum
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=119BFE4456DB93E8&p_docnum=1
Groups want to block theme park plans
Kurt Erickson
SPRINGFIELD (LEE)-A coalition of environmental groups wants to block plans for a large resort in Southern Illinois.Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said the group took its position against the plan by the Toney Watkins Co. after a meeting Tuesday.
A company spokeswoman called the decision confusing and disappointing."I just don't think they've given the idea enough consideration," said Geri Boyer, an engineer who is working for the Toney Watkins Co.
Goldman said the organizations, which include the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, are "strenuously opposed" to the project, which would transform at least 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park near Pinckneyville into a Branson, Mo.-style destination.
Goldman said it would set a bad precedent to give state parkland to private developers, even if the company agrees to give an equal amount of nearby property back to the state.
"We're just opposed to it," he said, adding that there also are concerns about the destruction of habitat in the area, which consists largely of reclaimed strip mine land.
Goldman said the groups will work hard to defeat legislation pending in the State Capitol that would pave the way for the land swap.
Boyer said the environmental groups did not conduct any scientific habitat studies before making their decision."I just think they are making a decision on inaccurate information," Boyer said.
If the land swap is approved, the company wants to build a theme park-style resort with golf courses and bicycle racing tracks on the tract. The state hopes the project generates 2,500 jobs in an economically depressed area.
(Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 217-789-0865)
http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2007/06/12/opinions/guest_columns/20563745.txt
Developer needs to show land eyed for park parcel swap
By David Kenney
There is a certain smell about interest on the part of the Toney Watkins Co. to trade 2,000 acres of land for an equal amount to be taken from Pyramid State Park. And it's not the smell of roses. The first thing state officials should say to the company is "show me the land." The second is "show me the deed to your ownership of it.
"The company was founded, in its own words, to build a resort. It has no track record of successful operation and no known degree of capital. It doesn't return phone calls and hides behind a desire on the part of our "boy governor" to have only himself bring the "good news" to the public.
The company apparently has spoken to state officials in terms of eventually having 100 million dollars invested in its project, and that it will eventually provide 2,500 jobs. Those of us who were born at night, but not last night, look on those figures with a measure of skepticism.
The whole matter brings to mind the would-be developer of shore-line home sites on Kinkaid Lake of a few years ago. Unknown to the public he obtained a contract from an unsophisticated Kinkaid-Reed's Creek Conservancy District Board for the purchase of land, and began staking out lots and roadways in areas eminently unsuited for that sort of use.
An aroused public was told it was a "done deal" and nothing could be done to prevent it going forward. The developer intended to buy low, sell high, and depart, leaving the owners of houses and lots without sewage lines and durable roadways. Users of the lake for legitimate purposes, from all walks of life, rose up in wrath and undid the deal in short order. The developer departed, muttering about suing the board and the state. The board was reconstructed by the legislature, its management altered, and Kinkaid Lake preserved for its original purposes.
Another "done deal" that came undone when the public learned of it occurred when the state was in the process several years ago of purchasing 16,500 acres of land from a coal company to be added to Pyramid State Park. Governor George Ryan came to the Du Quoin State Fair and with one of his friends schemed to have 5,000 of those acres sold to a private group.
A state employee became indignant about all that and told a friend what was happening. He was so fearful of losing his job he would visit his friend only at night, under cover of darkness. His friend went to the Southern Illinoisan newspaper and it blew the whistle. Another potential wrong was righted, another "done deal" undone. The power of public opinion can untie many knots.
Pyramid State Park is a natural treasure of great value. It should be preserved intact as such.
Dirt bike tracks and amphitheaters, said by some to be amenities, are anything but so far as a park of great natural value is concerned. They can be built elsewhere, but not on park land that is the rightful property of the public.
David Kenney was director of the Illinois Department of Conservation, predecessor of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, from 1977 to 1984.
Published on: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 7:14 AM CDT
Developers make first public comment about Perry park plan
By JIM SUHR, the Associated Press
Developers hoping to turn part of Illinois' largest state park into a resort rivaling Missouri's Branson broke their public silence Monday, saying the plan and its 2,500 jobs would boost the region's struggling economy and assuage environmental worries.
While still offering few details about the project, the statement by the Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co. came one day after a newspaper quoted people close to the deal as saying that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration had instructed the developer to keep quiet so he could announce it himself.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the directive came from Blagojevich's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been involved in talks on the project and could offer financing or other aid for it.
"It says we are not allowed to talk with the press until the governor announces the project," the newspaper quoted Geri Boyer, a Belleville consultant working with the developers, as saying.
On Monday, Boyer told The Associated Press no such gag order existed. Calling it "just a misunderstanding," she said a DCEO letter to developers months ago had "boilerplate language" that they not discuss any negotiations with the state publicly. Developers misconstrued that as meaning they could not publicly talk about the project at all, she added.
Boyer declined to produce a copy of the letter for the AP, calling it confidential.
Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the state DCEO, said only that the agency was aware of the project and that "our discussions typically remain confidential, which is standard practice even when we are still in the very preliminary stages.
"In Monday's statement, Toney Watkins, the development firm's chairman and chief executive, said "the lack of communication with area media was based on a misinterpretation of communications" between the company and the DCEO.Calls to Jacquie Vick, the company's spokeswoman, about the news release were not returned.
Published reports have suggested that the development near Pinckneyville, about 70 miles southeast of St. Louis, would be a recreational theme-park tourism destination featuring music entertainment venues, golf courses and a BMX bike-racing area.But Monday's statement offered no such specifics, saying the company has tapped Southern Illinois as its primary Midwest location for "a destination and convention resort" that would be family oriented.
The company confirmed it has requested Illinois legislative help to establish a relationship with the state's Department of Natural Resources and identify a "suitable" parcel of land within the roughly 20,000-acre Pyramid State Recreation Area.Lawmakers have said the Toney Watkins Co. wants to swap 2,000 acres of Pyramid land for an identical-sized parcel nearby, along with money to improve that land.
That legislative push was put on hold last week, however, after environmental groups questioned whether the state should part with park land and whether development would harm grasslands where they say the Henslow's sparrow and other rare birds have thrived.
Illinois state Sen. David Luechtefeld, a Republican from Okawville, said Monday the Toney Watkins Co. turned to the park land after negotiations for other acreage from a coal company fizzled.Luechtefeld said he could understand why the company limited its public comment, saying publicity about the project could drive up land prices beyond the firm's reach.
But he says the project "would change the face of a couple of counties," noting the Pyramid site is "20,000 acres we're doing absolutely nothing with."
"Ideally, the best thing is if they could buy from a private owner," he said. "But at least (the state land) was an option, rather than the project falling apart completely. If they don't get the land, it won't happen."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/04A1CF2ACF2D7A40862572F8000E6E21?OpenDocument
Illinois resort plan details shared
By Erik PotterPOST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
06/12/2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The developer behind plans to convert up to 5,000 acres of state parkland south of Pinckneyville into a Branson-like resort acknowledged its plans Monday, confirming that the Southern Illinois site is its first choice for the development.
Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based entertainment company, has before declined to weigh in on a project that surfaced as the state Legislature moved into an overtime session. The news release it issued gave few details about the plan, which the company claims will bring 2,500 jobs to the area.
The release and later interview with a company official confirmed that the project would be a "vacation destination and convention resort" on 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park — later expanding to 5,000 acres — in a $100 million initial investment that would feature BMX racing, golf courses and several music stages.
Geri Boyer, an engineer working on the project for Watkins, said that the company hopes to break ground on the first phase of development by late fall in order to complete the BMX facility in time to host U.S. qualifying rounds for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Where that ground would be broken is still an open question, however, as the plan to swap 2,000 acres of private land for 2,000 acres of state parkland faces stiff opposition from environmental groups and potentially from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources which controls the parkland.
Lawmakers are pushing hard for the company to find private land for the resort, billing the land swap as a last resort.
"No matter what, (environmental) groups will oppose (the swap), and that makes it extremely difficult to get this done," said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, who is helping to shepherd a bill through the Legislature that would authorize the natural resources department to make the trade.
Luechtefeld stressed the need to get Gov. Rod Blagojevich on board to ensure support from the Department of Natural Resources on the project. "The Department of Natural Resources works for the governor. Could it happen without the whole-hearted support of the governor? I don't see how.
"Lawmakers, the developer and environmentalists met last week to discuss the proposal, and the environmental groups have spent the weekend preparing feedback.Objections raised have included losing unique grassland habitat, dividing the park into two sections and establishing a precedent for "selling" state parkland.
"We were told in that meeting by the Department of Natural Resources that they didn't think (the department) had ever sold off a piece of a state park before," said Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, who attended the meeting. "If something like this were to happen, that would be a huge precedent. Where would it end?"
Goldman said the Audubon Society identified the targeted area of the park as one of the most important in Illinois for preserving the habitat of grassland birds, whose numbers have been falling nationwide.
Boyer said the company is committed to addressing many environmental concerns. "We feel confident we can put in money on our swap site to put in (grasses) that (the birds) like that will be better than what they've got," she said.
Monday's announcement is the first time the company has made any public statement about the proposed development, having declined previously to return reporters' phone calls. The Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that the company was honoring a written request from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity — a state agency charged with attracting economic development to Illinois — not to talk about the project until Blagojevich announced it publicly.
In its release, the company blamed its silence on a "misinterpretation of communications" with the state department, in which the company interpreted the state agency's request for privacy on the details of any financial assistance package it offered as a broader request to not discuss the project in general.
The project has been in the works for more than a year, with the developer attempting to identify suitable land in the area. The negotiations turned public two weeks ago when state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, filed legislation that would allow the state to trade a portion of Pyramid State Park for an equal amount of private land to make room for the resort.
Reitz' bill would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to make the swap only if the department found that the new land was better than the old in terms of serving the sportsmen and environmental community. That could mean that the developer would have to make both habitat and infrastructure improvements to the land, such as planting prairie grasses and building roads and boat ramps.
The bill is expected to move forward in the Senate on Thursday.
epotter@post-dispatch.com 217-782-4912
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/10/top/20544773.txt
Blagojevich: Don't talk until I do
By Kevin McDermott, The Southern Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration has ordered private developers not to talk about plans for a huge new resort near Pinckneyville until Blagojevich himself can announce it, sources say.
Some lawmakers who support the project say that public relations directive could be endangering the proposal.
"People have asked, 'If these (developers) are credible, why don't they answer the phone?'" said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. He is among several lawmakers who say they learned late last week of the administration's gag order, and now are pressing to have it lifted.
The Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based investment group, wants to construct a Branson-like, 5,000-acre resort near Pinckneyville, possibly under a controversial land swap arrangement with the state. That controversy has been heightened in the past week by the dead silence of the company and its lobbyists, to the point of failing to even answer reporters' phone calls.
Several legislators and company officials confirmed Friday that the reason for the silence is a directive from Blagojevich's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been involved in talks on the project and could potentially offer financing or other assistance for it.
Belleville consultant Geri Boyer, who is working with the developers, said the gag order was contained in a letter from the agency. "It says we are not allowed to talk with the press until the governor announces the project," Boyer told the Post-Dispatch.
She didn't specify what the letter referred to, and said she couldn't provide more details because of the agency's confidentiality directive. She said she and others are pressing the agency to allow the developers to say more. "We really would like to talk with you," she said.
Chicago attorney Walter R. Dale, general counsel and vice president for the Toney Watkins Co., also confirmed on Friday the existence of the letter, though he said he couldn't detail its contents because it wasn't in front of him. He said the company's public silence has been partly because "we're trying to get a clear reading on what we're allowed to discuss" as laid out in the letter.
A spokesman for the economic development agency initially denied on Friday that the agency has told developers not to discuss the project. When pressed specifically about the letter that Boyer and Dale said the developers received from the agency, the spokesman would neither confirm nor deny its existence.
"I'm not sure what letter she's referring to," said the spokesman, Andrew Ross. "We're aware of the project, but that's for the developers to talk about."He declined to comment further.
A message left with Blagojevich's office Friday wasn't returned.
Lawmakers who have been talking to developers for more than a year about the proposal said they learned of the gag order during a closed meeting with the developers' representatives on Thursday. It came to light after legislators asked the developers why media reports kept highlighting the lack of available information about the company and its plans.
"One of the things we jumped on them about was, 'Why haven't you answered your phones?' They said (the administration) said, 'Don't discuss this,"' said Luechtefeld."
We were upset about that. It looks suspicious when you can't get anyone to pick up the phone," Luechtefeld said. ". . . This (proposal) is something that can fall apart in a hurry. People who invest in this . . . if there's any doubt in their minds, they just go somewhere else."
Luechtefeld and state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, another participant in the meeting, said there are concerns that the gag order has complicated an already-difficult quest to get the project started."I wish they would have told me this earlier, so I would have had an answer for people who asked why (the developers) weren't returning calls," said Reitz. Like other lawmakers from the area, he views the resort proposal as a potential economic boon for the depressed Southern Illinois region. "They need to start telling people what this is about."'
What has been revealed is that the developers envision a $100 million recreational theme-park tourism destination - including music entertainment venues, golf courses, a BMX bike-racing facility and other amenities - near Pinckneyville, a town of about 5,400 people 70 miles southeast of St. Louis. Developers ultimately hope to have 5,000 acres of land under the project.
It's difficult to find an undeveloped piece of land that size (it's more than 10 times the entire acreage of Six Flags amusement park). Among the proposals the developers have brought to lawmakers is for the state to provide 2,000 acres of land from the north side of nearby Pyramid State Recreation Area, in exchange for the same amount of land currently under private ownership, with an option for another 3,000-acre trade later.
The 20,000-acre state park in Perry County is Illinois' largest, and environmentalists have raised concerns about turning over any of it for private development. Legislation is pending in Springfield to allow the land-swap, but Reitz and other supporters of the project view that as a last resort, and are pegging their hopes instead on talks between the developers and private landowners in the area.Pinckneyville sits in Illinois' economically devastated coal-mining region, and local and state officials have tried for years to come up with ideas to provide investment and jobs to the area. Lawmakers in the past week have said the resort proposal could potentially create 2,500 jobs.
But media attempts to talk to the developers themselves have been mostly fruitless. Dale, the company's executive vice-president, said that's partly because key company officials have been out of town lately and were caught off-guard by the controversy that arose when talk of the land-swap spread through the Legislature last week. He also noted the administration's letter requesting confidentiality.
Dale said details that have been reported about the company's plans so far are accurate, but he declined to offer further detail yet.
Debate over the issue is likely to resume when lawmakers return Tuesday to Springfield.
Published on: Sunday, June 10, 2007 7:22 AM CDT
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/05/top/20489888.txt
Legislators talking, state officials mum on Perry County resort idea
Published on: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 7:35 AM CDT
BY CALEB HALE, THE SOUTHERN
PERRY COUNTY - A proposed resort near Pinckneyville, described as Illinois' answer to Branson, Mo., may hinge upon the state's ability to swap state park land with a private company, legislators said Monday.A House panel will review the details of a Senate bill today, which would allow the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to trade roughly 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park in Perry County with adjacent land a private resort and entertainment group might purchase to build a "state-of-the-art destination and convention resort," according to the company.
The Toney Watkins Co., based in Glen Carbon, has expressed interest in bringing the resort area to the region for two and a half years, legislators said. Work on the project has largely been done in secret, but it has now been turned over to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Larry Woolard, southern region director for DCEO, said he wasn't at liberty to discuss anything regarding the proposal Monday. Calls to the main DCEO office were not returned.
Southern Illinois legislators were more talkative about the project but clear on the fact officials have a long way to go before anything is official.
"There are a lot of things that have to be met," said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.
"My feeling about this particular situation is any kind of economic opportunity ...you need to take a look at."State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said the state is on board with the proposal.
The company, he said, hasn't given a definitive answer yet."The state is very receptive, but because we don't have a hard commitment from them, even though they show us on paper what they are wanting to do ...we don't have any securities here," Bost said.
According to the legislation regarding the land swap, Senate Bill 778, the resort could bring as many as 2,500 jobs to the region. If realized, the project could be a boon for Pinckneyville, which lost major employer Technicolor Universal Media Services earlier this year.
Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder did not return a call to comment on the matter Monday.
caleb.hale@thesouthern.com 351-5090
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/942D5162612CD17F862572F10015C6C7?OpenDocument
Plans for resort and theme park take shape near Pinckneyville
By Terry Hillig
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/05/2007
PYRAMID STATE PARK: Toney Watkins Co. wants 5,000 acres there.
THE PROJECT: Plan envisions resort and theme park near Pinckneyville.
PINCKNEYVILLE — A proposed land swap involving state park property could be the first step in the development of a massive resort and theme park near Pinckneyville.Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co. wants to exchange 5,000 acres the company has under option for 5,000 acres in Pyramid State Park.
The site being considered is southwest of Pinckneyville and about 75 miles southeast of downtown St. Louis.
State Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, introduced the land-swap measure in the Illinois House on Friday as an amendment to a Senate bill regarding other transfers of state property. It was referred to the State Government Administration Committee and, if approved, could return to the House floor for a vote as early as today, but probably later this week. Reitz said Watkins proposes to swap 2,000 acres initially and 3,000 acres for expansion later.
"The economic development potential is enormous," said Reitz, adding that the proposed first phase of development would involve a $100 million investment and provide jobs for 2,500 people.
The 5,000-acre theme park would dwarf Six Flags St. Louis, the amusement park in St. Louis County. Six Flags has developed about 224 acres of its 497-acre site. Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder said the proposed project is one of several to surface in recent years and that area residents don't get excited easily about such talk.
"We've had a lot of disappointments over the years," Holder said. "We've been left at the altar so many times that people don't take anything for granted.
"New investment would be particularly welcome in a community that depended heavily on a coal mining industry that has largely disappeared. The area got more bad news earlier this year when Technicolor Universal Media closed a local plant that produced CDs and DVDs and moved production to Mexico, Holder said. The plant opened 50 years ago — it produced vinyl records at the time — and had employed as many as 900 people, the mayor said.
The land swap would be contingent on a determination by the state's Department of Natural Resources that it is a fair exchange, as well as the company's agreement to restore the property transferred to the state and pay the state an unspecified amount of money.
Under the bill, the Department of Natural Resources would not enter into transfer negotiations before the company provides a bond equal to 10 percent of the appraised value of the state property.
Pyramid State Park has nearly 20,000 acres and is the largest park in Illinois. Most of the land was once strip-mined for coal. The state acquired the property over the last few decades but development has been slow, local officials said.
Toney Watkins Co. has a website (toneywatkins.com) that lists a post office box in Glen Carbon as its address. Efforts to contact Anthony "Toney" Watkins, the founder, director and chairman of the board, were unsuccessful.
The company is an Illinois corporation that was chartered in 2004 and began operating in 2005.
Its website describes a management team with more than 300 years of combined experience in the entertainment industry, including at least one former executive with Walt Disney Co. "Our company was founded for the specific purpose of developing a state-of-the-art destination and convention resort to cater to both the business community and families alike," the website says.
A video presentation on the site hints at a theme park, thrill rides, hotel, convention center, indoor water park and camping opportunities.
Reitz said no one could guarantee that the project would proceed but said he was optimistic enough about it to introduce the amendment.
"They don't know if they can get everything put together," he said.
thillig@post-dispatch.com 618-659-3638
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/05/local_news/news1.txt
Developers Target Recreational Resort in Perry County
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 2:18 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - Perry County could become the home of a theme park and convention center under a plan put forward by a hospitality and entertainment company based in Glen Carbon.Since at least the fall of 2005, the Toney Watkins Company has been pitching to state, regional and local leaders a plan to develop a convention center and music-based theme park on a 10,800-acre site in the southwestern part of the state.
Company chairman Toney Watkins in October 2005 gave an overview of the project--which he says will generate thousands of jobs for the area--at a meeting of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce's Infrastructure Council and Economic Development Council hosted at the Union League Club of Chicago.
Privately, several local leaders said they first heard of Watkins' proposal to develop the area as early as the start of 2006.The newspaper obtained from an anonymous source a copy of a business plan purporting to have been prepared by the Toney Watkins Company.
Watkins is targeting a plot of land west of Pinckneyville and north of Cutler that was formerly part of Consolidated Coal Company's Burning Star No. 4 Mine, according to the plan. The site's borders stretch from Illinois 154 on the north to Reese's Hills Road and Jamestown Road on the south. The parcel's east-west configurations run from Conant Road on the east to County Line Road on the Perry-Randolph county border.
A letter dated Jan. 15, 2006, attached to the plan says the proposed center is currently at the project development stage.
The letter bears Watkins' signature and describes the site, which would be named "The Nexus," as an "edutainment complex" that would cater not only to clientele from the corporate world for conventions and gatherings but also to families who want a vacation in Middle America.
Drawing on the principle of Wal-Mart's trademark Supercenters, the letter tells potential investors that The Nexus would provide everything that visitors could ask for during their stay, including lodging, entertainment and dining.
"Once they arrive on our site," the letter says, "they will not have to leave the complex until it is time for them to return home."
According to the plan obtained by the newspaper, the investment group would first secure 10,800 acres at the Burning Star site, with an eye toward acquiring 2,000 more acres also owned by Consolidation Coal for further development around the theme park.
The additional purchase of a 2,500-acre plot near Sparta in Randolph County currently owned by Peabody Coal Company would allow construction of employee housing for Nexus workers, the plan says.
The business plan lists projected costs for buying land at the Burning Star site at between $2,500 and $4,500 per acre, with the overall price totaling between $27 million and $32 million for the theme park-convention center.
The Peabody land is worth around $6,500 per acre, or a total of about $16.5 million, according to the business plan. An additional 3,000 acres in Randolph County could also be up for option, the plan says.
Once developed, The Nexus would include an indoor waterpark, an indoor ski dome, an ecosystem dome, a cultural center, an entertainment district featuring performance venues for genres of music ranging from country to jazz to rock-and-roll, three golf courses, a 25,000-seat arena, a sports complex and a 500,000-square foot convention center.
The plan also calls for development of a 250-acre theme park centered around 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.' A jazz village artist-in-residence complex would provide a place for musicians working at the complex to live and work.
Representatives from the Toney Watkins Company declined to comment specifically on when any formal announcement would be made regarding the development. Repeated calls to Watkins' cell phone were unanswered.
Jacquie Vick, senior vice president of corporate communications for the company, said although Perry County is one of several U.S. locations being considered as a site for the project, discussion or publication could jeopardize the selection process. Vick said she could not comment further on the project.
--Craig Shrum
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/06/local_news/news1.txt
House Panel OKs Pyramid Land Swap
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 12:40 PM CDT
SPRINGFIELD - Developers of a theme park and recreational resort proposed for western Perry County got some good news on Tuesday in Springfield.
A House panel gave the state's Department of Natural Resources authority to swap 2,000 acres of land from Pyramid State Park with ground from an adjoining plot, with acreage from the park used as part of the proposed development. The bill--passed unanimously in committee--now awaits approval from the full House.
The exchange would allow the Toney Watkins Company, a Glen Carbon-based development company, to develop a tract from the state park as part of an entertainment complex that the developers say would include a sports complex, convention center, golf courses and a theme park.
Lawmakers emphasized that before any land swap could take place, the company would have to meet all conditions set forth by the IDNR.
"This is very, very strict language," said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in a telephone interview this morning. "They have certain things they must do because we've got to put that guard in place to make sure that everything's above-board. We must make sure that we proceed cautiously."
"All this bill does is give IDNR the right to transfer land if this group meets all the standards that they have to meet," said Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, on Tuesday. "It's not a bill that says it (the land) will be transferred--all it does is give them the power to transfer if this group meets all the requirements.
"Luechtefeld and state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, have been talking with developers for several years regarding the project, and Reitz said the proposal is still in its development stages.
"We've tried to craft this in such a way that it protects the integrity of Pyramid State Park and hopefully makes it better," Reitz said this morning.
The bill moving forward in the House establishes several safeguards, Reitz said, including a required 10 percent bond payment--probably between $400,000 and $500,000--from the company on the appraised price of acreage from Pyramid.The company would have to put up the bond before the land exchange proceeded, Reitz said.
"The amendment requires due diligence through the state, including appraisals to make sure it's a fair trade when we swap land," he said.
Reitz said the Toney Watkins Company made the first move in approaching the state about a possible land trade. The company originally planned to target real estate north of the site they are currently considering, he said, but that option apparently fell through.
That site was detailed in Tuesday's edition of the Call. According to a business plan purporting to have been prepared by the Toney Watkins Company in 2006, that site would have stretched from Illinois 154 on the north to Reese's Hills Road and Jamestown Road on the south. Conant Road would have been on the complex's eastern edge, while County Line Road on the Perry-Randolph county border was to be on the resort's west side.
The site currently under consideration by the company lies south of that original plot of land and is closer to Pyramid State Park.
On Monday, Reitz also contacted several environmental groups about the possible land exchange."I am just trying to make sure and see if they have any suggestions to make sure this bill is tight enough for everyone's concerned," Reitz said. He notified groups including the Sierra Club, the Environmental Council, Open Spaces, the Nature Conservancy and Pheasants Forever.
State officials will meet with those organizations to ensure the integrity of any land transfer, Reitz said.
Reitz had previously asked the Toney Watkins Company to contact the environmental groups but said that he understood from talking with representatives from those groups on Monday that they had not yet heard from the developers.
Reitz said he was uncertain when the full House would consider approval for the land swap authorized on Tuesday."This is an amendment to an omnibus land transfer bill--we have identified a bill in the Senate we might put it on instead," Reitz said.
Luechtefeld said he has included the measure as an amendment to a bill in the Senate that could move forward more quickly than legislation in the House. He said there's been no indication yet as to when state senators would consider approving the plan.
Lawmakers and local leaders alike said they have heard informal discussion of the recreational resort for the last several years, but they want to proceed with caution.
"If it is as large as what they are talking about and it does come to fruition, the amount of jobs and the level of pay and the overall econommy of Southern Illinois would skyrocket," Bost said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that's what would take place if it goes to the scale they're talking about."
"They have a minimum of $100 million invested and 2,500 jobs, and the economic development part of this makes it something we have to explore," Reitz observed. "But there are still a lot of unanswered questions."
--Craig Shrum
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/illinois/chi-ap-il-bransoninillinois,1,1029579.story
Lawmaker puts hold on land-swap effort for proposed resort
By JIM SUHRAssociated Press Writer
Published June 7, 2007, 3:26 PM CDT
A legislative effort to authorize a Southern Illinois land swap that would clear the way for a resort rivaling Missouri's Branson has been put on hold so environmentalists can study the plan.
State Rep. Dan Reitz, a Steeleville Democrat, said Thursday that he agreed to table the measure after hearing concerns about the development's possible impact on grasslands where conservationists say the Henslow's sparrow and other rare birds have thrived.
A private developer, Toney Watkins Co., wants to swap 2,000 acres near Pinckneyville for an identically sized chunk of the nearby 20,000-acre Pyramid State Recreation Area, the state's largest park.
But the Illinois Sierra Club and the Illinois Environmental Council question the wisdom of parting with any publicly held land. Environmentalists "have legitimate concerns," Reitz told The Associated Press Thursday after he met with Illinois Environmental Council chief Jonathan Goldman, Toney Watkins representatives and Illinois state Sen. David Luechtefeld, an Okawville Republican.
"I don't think trading state land is a good idea. We see this (measure) more as an option in case the developers can't find other private land," Reitz said, casting the meeting as an effort to raise environmentalists' "level of comfort" about the plan.
Specifics about the development have been elusive. Glen Carbon, Ill.-based Toney Watkins has not discussed the project publicly, and officials have not returned numerous telephone and e-mail requests from the AP for an interview.
Reitz said the company told him the project would include a theme park with music entertainment venues, a BMX bike-racing site and golf courses.
"I'm hesitant to say we're opposing this, but we have some very serious concerns," said Goldman. "It's our understanding the state has never sold off state park land. We're about advocating for more park land."
According to Reitz's measure, introduced in the Illinois House last week, the state expects at least $100 million in private investment in the project, ultimately leading to the creation of about 2,500 jobs near Pinckneyville, a town of some 5,400 residents about 70 miles southeast of St. Louis. The deal would hinge on whether the state Department of Natural Resources concludes the swap is fair, and whether the developers agree to pay an unspecified amount to the state and restore the property transferred to it, Reitz's measure says.
On its Web site, the company says it "was founded for the specific purpose of developing a state-of-the-art destination and convention resort to cater to both the business community and families alike." The site offered no details.
The project would be welcome news for the Pinckneyville area, stung in recent decades by a downturn in local coal mining and, recently, the shuttering of a 440-job plant -- Perry County's largest manufacturing employer -- where DVDs and compact discs were made.
Environmentalists say that, while they understand Pinckneyville's troubles, giving up park land might for an area's economic betterment may be dangerous precedent. "We own so few acres of land, so what we have we need to keep," said Kathy Andria of the American Bottom Conservancy and the Illinois Sierra Club. "Once it's in public hands, it should stay that way."
The Sierra Club's Jack Darin agreed. "Our parks were not set aside as land banks for future development projects, and that's what this developer appears to be looking at Pyramid state park as," he said. "If this was such a great project, there must be a place other than state park land where it can be done."
On the Net: Toney Watkins Co.: http://www.toneywatkins.com/
DNR's Pyramid state park site: http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R5/PYRAMID.HTM
Illinois Environmental Council, http://www.ilenviro.org/
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/07/top/20514301.txt
Resort plans for Southern Illinois on hold
Published on: Thursday, June 7, 2007 7:22 AM CDT
By Kurt Erickson, The Southern Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD - A land swap aimed at paving the way for a Branson, Mo.-like vacation destination to be built in Southern Illinois is on indefinite hold.At the request of environmental groups, a state lawmaker put the brakes on the plan Wednesday, saying he wants to make sure the groups get a chance to review the proposal.
"They have legitimate concerns," said state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, who is sponsoring legislation regarding the land swap. "Fortunately, it looks like we'll have plenty of time."The Toney Watkins Co. wants the state to hand over 2,000 acres of land on the north side of Pyramid State Park in Perry County in exchange for the company giving the state a different parcel of property plus cash in return.
The Glen Carbon-based firm apparently wants to build a theme park-style resort with golf courses and bicycle racing tracks on the tract. The state hopes the project generates 2,500 jobs in an economically depressed area.
But, after hearing about the project on Friday, environmental groups like the Sierra Club said they needed more time to review it.
Among their concerns is the fate of the endangered Henslow's Sparrow, which nests in the grasslands that make up much of the reclaimed strip mine area.
Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said the groups are not solely concerned with the project's impact on the flora and fauna of the area.
Rather, Goldman said there are broader policy questions that need to be addressed, including whether it's a good decision to give up a piece of state parkland."We're opposed to selling off state park land, period," said Goldman.
Goldman said it was alarming to environmental groups because the proposal surfaced as the spring legislative session was set to adjourn."It is typical end-of-session sleight of hand," said Goldman.
Further, he said the lack of information coming from the company raises questions."No one knows who this company is," said Goldman.
Since the project became public, the company has not made representatives available to answer questions. Repeated telephone messages left with company owner Anthony Watkins have not been returned.
Late Tuesday, Jacquie Vick, who is listed on the company web-site as a media contact, referred questions about the project to Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Ross said he was unaware the company had directed inquiries to him and reiterated an earlier statement that the state is aware of the project.
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said he has been skeptical of the project, but said he is willing to let the land swap move forward as long as the state is protected in the transaction.
Luechtefeld said the project could be a huge plus for the region, which has lost many jobs.
Legislation regarding the land swap has been switched from Senate Bill 778 to House Bill 29.
For Bill information and tracking:
Bill Status of HB0029
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=29&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=26622&SessionID=51&GA=95
Bill Status of SB0778
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=778&GAID=9&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=28747&SessionID=51&GA=95
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/14/local_news/news2.txt
Sparrows Line Up Against Land Swap
Thursday, June 14, 2007 12:23 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - After meeting opposition last week from environmental groups over a proposed land swap at Pyramid State Park, the Toney Watkins Company is continuing negotiations with private land owners in western Perry County.
In a telephone interview this morning, state Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said that buying the needed land from a private owner would be a "better route" for the company than exchanging land from the state park.
"One of the real problems with the land swap--and we knew that ahead of time--would be that there would be an awful lot of opposition," Luechtefeld said. "The environmental groups are really opposed to this, so they're going to fight it--there's no question about it.
"Luechtefeld said he understands the Toney Watkins Company and a private land owner in western Perry County have been holding talks throughout the week.
"We're hoping that succeeds--that's the best way to go," Luechtefeld said. "It's cleaner, it's quicker, and the other route (a land swap) you may not be able to do anyway because of the opposition."
Geri Boyer, project engineer for Kaskaskia Engineering Group of Belleville, said this morning that the Toney Watkins Company has maintained a dialogue with private land holders even as lawmakers in Springfield considered trading state park acreage with the developers.
"We have been continuing to talk to private land owners in the area, but we are still pursuing the state park property," said Boyer, whose firm has worked with the Toney Watkins Company for the last 10 months on developing the proposed convention resort.
"We have been continually pursuing private property at the same time we're trying to push the land swap because we need to keep every option open," Boyer said.
If developers can secure land needed for the site, the Toney Watkins Company says it wants to build a destination that would include a convention center, golf courses, a BMX bike trail patterned after the course designed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and multiple hotels.
The plan has been the talk of the town in Perry County for the last few years but in recent weeks became known publicly after state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, introduced a bill in the House that would allow the state's Department of Natural Resources to swap 2,000 acres at Pyramid State Park to developers.
Reitz and Luechtefeld said any land swap would require the company to pay a 10 percent bond on the property and require the Toney Watkins Company to exchange a parcel of "equal size and attributes" to the park.Environmentalists question whether IDNR should exchange land currently under the state park system. Environmental groups also say the land swap could endanger rare birds, including the Henslow's sparrow, which nest in grasslands at the park.
Boyer said environmental lobbyist Jonathan Goldman has been in contact with her and that a site visit to acreage under the proposed land swap will be arranged in the future with environmental groups.
"We want to see this project built in Perry County," Boyer said.--Craig Shrum
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/opinion/stories/116600.asp
Our Opinion
Published Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Resort plan awfully vague
Few places could use an economic boost more than southern Illinois. But forgive us for being a bit dubious about the secretive plans to develop a resort that supposedly would rival Branson, Mo., and bring 2,500 jobs to the economically struggling area.
Our skepticism might be eased a bit if just a teensy weensy bit of information were released about this huge proposal.
At this point we know just enough to know that it sounds rather too good to be true. According to some, the situation may be further complicated by Gov. Rod Blagojevich wanting to make some grand announcement about this project.
But from what few details are available, one has to wonder how realistic the early promises of a bigger-than-Branson development really are. It’s always easy to talk about grandiose development - it’s a lot more difficult to deliver on the talk - especially $100 million investments.
A case in point, one that also involves Gov. Blagojevich, is Destination Springfield. Remember that? Probably not, because after some giant conceptual talk of changing the face of downtown Springfield, the proposal pretty much faded away.
Blagojevich had a concept for remaking historic downtown Springfield into something resembling Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. While the concept always seemed a bit nebulous, artists’ sketches were drawn up and there was even talk of beginning a bidding process to try to interest developers in building a lodge and restaurant within the confines of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.
The Destination Springfield “imagineers” also talked about developing a top-notch new golf course along the bluffs of the Sangamon River - turns out a private developer has already done that in Petersburg - and even having the Lincoln Home site declared a full-fledged national park.
Blagojevich apparently developed the idea after visiting Colonial Williamsburg. It was a nice thought - at least he was thinking of Springfield even if most of the thinking was done in Chicago. But it didn’t take long for this “plan” to fall apart. That’s because it was not realistic.
As much as the governor wanted to see the national park designation and a fancy new lodge and downtown Springfield transformed into an 1850s theme park, no one drove into town with a freight train loaded with money to make the project possible.
We truly hope the deal in southern Illinois has a better chance of becoming reality. While Springfield will do just fine without having a national park on Ninth Street, southern Illinois really badly needs a $100 million investment and 2,500 jobs. It would be truly cruel to hold out a promise with little chance of coming true.
Destination Springfield was merely an idea. This project comes with a developer attached - the Toney Watkins Co. of Glen Carbon. The company wants to swap 2,000 acres of land it owns for 2,000 state-owned acres in the Pyramid State Recreation Area. State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, defended the company’s secrecy, saying it could drive up land prices beyond the firm’s reach.
That comment alone made us pause. If a company cannot afford to buy the land, can it really afford a $100 million investment? We’d love to see some solid answers to those kind of questions before the state goes too far on any deal, and before it gets people’s expectations raised too high.
And until more information becomes available, we’d suggest heading to the company’s Web site at www.toneywatkins.com. We think you might find it interesting in its vagueness.
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/13/top/20574710.txt
Developer wants Branson-like resort without Branson-like traffic jams
Published on: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 7:05 AM CDT
By Kurt Erickson, The Southern Springfield bureau
SPRINGFIELD - Developers of a proposed resort area in Southern Illinois point to Branson, Mo. as an example of what their project could someday become.At the same time, however, they say they are working hard to avoid one element of the Branson experience: Traffic jams.
Geri Boyer, an engineer heading up planning efforts for the proposed resort complex near Pinckneyville, said Tuesday that the company has spent more than a year assessing traffic patterns in the region in hopes of avoiding the pitfalls that come when massive amounts of people descend on a mostly rural region.
"Almost all of my efforts have been concentrated on understanding the dynamics of the traffic and how much traffic this site development would bring to the area," said Boyer.
Boyer works for the Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co., which has proposed swapping the state for land at Pyramid State Park in Perry County to build a resort area.
Despite behind-the-scenes planning by the likes of Boyer and other engineers, the project only came to light two weeks ago when the land swap idea was floated by state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville.
Although the project faces potentially stiff opposition from environmental groups, the company and its political backers are proceeding with the plans, pointing to the massive infusion of people and money in resort areas like Branson and Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
Boyer said she visited with officials in both of those regions, where traffic jams are commonplace.
"We studied Branson. We studied Pigeon Forge. We've looked at all the problems they've had," she said. "We want to do the opposite. We want to make sure we have a good transportation plan in place.
"That is also the top advice from an official in Branson, where, despite on-going road improvement projects, traffic jams still occur.
"Traffic is going to be the main problem," said Branson city spokesman Jerry Adams. "If people don't have a pleasant experience, they probably won't come back.
"According to a study of the transportation system around Pinckneyville, Boyer found that the two-lane roads crisscrossing the area operate at just 12 percent of capacity, meaning no major widening is needed -for now.
However, intersections in the area will need to be improved and a bottleneck in the center of Pinckneyville will need to be addressed.
A bypass around Pinckneyville has been in the state's long-range transportation plan for several years, but it has never received funding. It would route traffic on Illinois Routes 127, 154 and 13 away from the courthouse square.
"It would be considered our No. 1 priority for transportation in the area," said Boyer.
"Pinckneyville is a problem right now that the state is trying to solve.
"While taxpayers across the state will be on the hook for the cost of many of the road improvement projects, Boyer said the Toney Watkins Co. has committed to paying for some of the upgrades.
"We're not going to be asking the state or the federal government to put all the money up for roads. The developer will actually contribute too," said Boyer.Adams said Branson officials have paid for an estimated $41 million in road projects through the proceeds of a local sales tax that was imposed in 1991.
The next step for the Perry County project could come Thursday when the Illinois Senate may take up the issue of the proposed land swap.
(Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 217-789-0865)
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/F009954F56566497862572F9001631F2?OpenDocument
As vague as it is, theme park proposal brings hope to Pinckneyville
By Kevin McDermottand Erik Potter
POST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
06/13/2007
PINCKNEYVILLE, Ill. — It's still a vague dream with little tangible detail. If it ever does become a reality, it won't necessarily be located in Southern Illinois. Even one of the developers warns that speculation about the thing has been "blown out of proportion.
"Yet the mere whisper of a huge Branson-like vacation park near Pinckneyville has got local officials excitedly pondering the pressures they would face as a national tourism destination.
"As mayor, I know there's going to be traffic issues, pressures on our social services. There's probably going to be a large influx of people during a small period of time," said Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder.
Given all the practical and political questions still surrounding the proposed theme park, the comments may qualify Holder as the most optimistic mayor in Illinois. Or maybe just the most desperate.
The collapse of Illinois' coal industry in the past decade rolled through Pinckneyville like an economic earthquake, and the aftershocks continue. In March, a DVD-production plant moved to Mexico and took with it 900 jobs. As of April, surrounding Perry County's unemployment rate stood at 8 percent, the highest in the state.
"(Townspeople) are very excited and hopeful that this project will take place," said Holder, whose town of 5,400 sits just north of the proposed theme park. "The area has suffered some bad luck. The people of Pinckneyville might just be a little traumatized, wondering, 'Is anything stable?'
"Those people include Elaine Bigham, a hair stylist in town for 18 years, who said she would welcome the theme park if it meant an economic boost. "We're going downhill fast. You can't even buy a pair of shoes in town.
"Supporters have described what could be the new Branson, Mo.: a destination spot for tourists from all over the country, offering entertainment, golf and other vacation activities. Though the project so far is mostly concept, with little detail, the Branson comparison has sparked imaginations here.
"I remember going down to Branson 30 years ago and seeing what it wasn't, and my husband and I just went back a year ago and we didn't know what to do first," said Liz Wilson, a Pinckneyville real estate agent.
'If supporters of the nascent project seem to be jumping the gun, so do the opponents. State legislation to allow a land swap with developers — giving them 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park near Pinckneyville, in exchange for the same acreage of private land — is viewed as an unlikely last resort by even the legislators who sponsored the bill. Yet some opponents of the land-swap idea are pegging it as an environmental threat and a dangerous precedent.
"Certainly I'm not opposed to the idea of bringing development to Southern Illinois, but it's really a bad idea to do it by taking a big chunk of a state park," said Joe Merkelbach, a Centralia resident who has stood on both sides of the nature-vs.-jobs debate. Merkelbach is among the 900 people who lost his job at the Pinckneyville DVD factory in March. He's also president of the Southern Illinois Audubon Society, which warns that breaking up the state's biggest contiguous state park for private developers could have a devastating effect on some species of birds.
The sudden swirl of debate in Pinckneyville and Springfield over the project arose earlier this month, when state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, filed legislation allowing the potential land swap. Although Reitz and other downstate lawmakers had been talking informally to developers for more than a year, this was the first that most of the state had heard of the proposal.
There remains only basic information about the development plans — or the developers, Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based company incorporated in Illinois in 2004. It's named after the company's chairman and founder. The company's mission statement is to "create and develop a multi-faceted/multi-use convention and destination resort." Developers envision a $100 million recreational theme-park tourism destination, including music entertainment venues, golf courses, a BMX bike-racing facility and other amenities. They ultimately hope to have 5,000 acres of land under the project.
Legislative supporters have said they believe the project ultimately will rest on private land.
Environmentalists are skeptical. "If that's the case, then why are they suddenly pushing (land-swap) legislation through in the final days of the General Assembly," said Jonathan Goldman of the Springfield-based Illinois Environmental Council.
Both supporters and opponents may be giving the issue more debate than it yet merits. Chicago attorney Walter R. Dale, general counsel and vice president for the Toney Watkins Co., told the Post-Dispatch last week that the company hasn't even settled on Illinois as the site of the project. "Nothing's been decided. We're looking at various sites," said Dale. "I think (the Illinois debate) has been blown out of proportion."
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/12/local_news/news2.txt
Developer: Perry County Is No. 1 Choice for Convention Site
Tuesday, June 12, 2007 1:27 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - If developers proposing a convention resort in western Perry County can clear several hurdles--including concerns from environmental group about a possible land swap with Pyramid State Park--Southern Illinois is the location of choice for a development that proponents say would bring over 2,500 jobs to the area.
"This is the site that they are settling on, that they want to be at," said Geri Boyer, project engineer for Belleville's Kaskaskia Engineering Group, which has worked for the last 10 months with the Toney Watkins Company of Glen Carbon to establish a convention destination in Perry County.
Boyer said in a telephone interview this morning that although previous statements from the Toney Watkins Company indicated other sites across the country had also been under consideration, Perry County is where the company wants to build its 10,000-acre development.
"If everything comes together, it's clear to go for Perry County," Boyer said.
Developers are ready to begin construction at the site as early as this fall, should the proposal clear legislative hurdles.
"We've been meeting with legislators ongoing for probably the last year," Boyer said. "We met with environmentalists last Thursday in Springfield, along with Sen. (Dave) Luechtefeld and Rep. (Dan) Reitz."Reitz, a Steeleville Democrat, asked fellow House members last week to approve a measure authorizing the state's Department of Natural Resources to exchange 2,000 acres at Pyramid State Park with the Toney Watkins Company for comparably priced land.
Reitz said the bill would require a 10 percent bond payment from the corporation on the appraised price of acreage from Pyramid. The company would also have to meet other criteria set forth by the IDNR before moving forward on any land swap that might be approved in the future.
"All this bill does is give IDNR the right to transfer land if this group meets all the standards that they have to meet," Luechtefeld said last week. "It's not a bill that says it (the land) will be transferred--all it does is give them the power to transfer if this group meets all the requirements.
"However, several environmental groups contacted by Reitz--including the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Council and Open Spaces--have questioned whether or not the state should approve a land swap involving acreage currently under the state park system. The environmental groups have are also concerned the convention site would endanger rare birds, including the Henslow's sparrow, in the grasslands at the park.
Boyer said this morning that the Toney Watkins company is continuing dialogue with the environmental groups and said the organizations agreed to e-mail their members for comments regarding the proposed land swap.
"We're going to get back with them and see how we can deal meet with everybody's expectations," Boyer said. "We're just waiting for their constituents to get back with them so that we don't go through this three or four times" before construction.
As early as October, work could begin at the site's first golf course, which Boyer says would be called the World Course.And developers also are targeting Olympic BMX trials prior to the 2008 Olympics in China, Boyer said.
"The BMX bicycle facility is ready to go, because we are going to build the exact replica of the facility that's being built for the Beijing Olympics so that we can run those trials for the Olympic event," Boyer said.
Once the BMX trail and the golf course are built, Boyer says the complex's first hotel would be the next project for construction workers.All told, several hotels will be built, including long-term stay accommodations for visitors who will be training at the site, Boyer said. Larger hotels would be built at a later stage of the project's development.
Boyer said that Teens on the Green, a youth golf organization, plans to move its learning center to the Perry County site and would bring in young golfers throughout the year. The BMX trail would attract competitors year-round, as well."What we're hoping is that bringing people in for these additional events will spark more use of the World Shooting Complex, also," Boyer said.
That attraction, just north of Sparta in Randolph County, regularly draws competitors and their families to the shooting center.And the Toney Watkins Company plans to add some entertainment of its own to its convention resort. Boyer said the company still plans a complex themed around music of all genres.
The company said in a press release e-mailed to regional media outlets on Monday that it has remained silent on the proposed development so far because of a misunderstanding with the state's economic development agency.
"The lack of communication with area media was based on a misinterpretation of communications that we had with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity outlining various state economic development programs that potentially could be available," said Toney Watkins, company CEO. "I apologize for any difficulties this may have caused.
The release says that should the land swap at Pyramid be approved, the company would exchange a parcel of "equal size and attributes" for the park, and that the company would also give the state funds for improvement of those acres.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday quoted Boyer as saying that the DCEO told representatives from the Toney Watkins Company to refrain from talking with the press until Gov. Rod Blagojevich formally announces the project.
However, in an interview with the Associated Press, Boyer said there was "just a misunderstanding" and that the DCEO told developers they could not discuss any negotiations with the state publicly. Boyer said the company believed that meant they could not discuss the project publicly at all.
More details on the project should be announced next week, Boyer said.
--Craig Shrum
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=119BFE4456DB93E8&p_docnum=1
Groups want to block theme park plans
Kurt Erickson
SPRINGFIELD (LEE)-A coalition of environmental groups wants to block plans for a large resort in Southern Illinois.Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said the group took its position against the plan by the Toney Watkins Co. after a meeting Tuesday.
A company spokeswoman called the decision confusing and disappointing."I just don't think they've given the idea enough consideration," said Geri Boyer, an engineer who is working for the Toney Watkins Co.
Goldman said the organizations, which include the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club, are "strenuously opposed" to the project, which would transform at least 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park near Pinckneyville into a Branson, Mo.-style destination.
Goldman said it would set a bad precedent to give state parkland to private developers, even if the company agrees to give an equal amount of nearby property back to the state.
"We're just opposed to it," he said, adding that there also are concerns about the destruction of habitat in the area, which consists largely of reclaimed strip mine land.
Goldman said the groups will work hard to defeat legislation pending in the State Capitol that would pave the way for the land swap.
Boyer said the environmental groups did not conduct any scientific habitat studies before making their decision."I just think they are making a decision on inaccurate information," Boyer said.
If the land swap is approved, the company wants to build a theme park-style resort with golf courses and bicycle racing tracks on the tract. The state hopes the project generates 2,500 jobs in an economically depressed area.
(Kurt Erickson can be reached at kurt.erickson@lee.net or 217-789-0865)
http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2007/06/12/opinions/guest_columns/20563745.txt
Developer needs to show land eyed for park parcel swap
By David Kenney
There is a certain smell about interest on the part of the Toney Watkins Co. to trade 2,000 acres of land for an equal amount to be taken from Pyramid State Park. And it's not the smell of roses. The first thing state officials should say to the company is "show me the land." The second is "show me the deed to your ownership of it.
"The company was founded, in its own words, to build a resort. It has no track record of successful operation and no known degree of capital. It doesn't return phone calls and hides behind a desire on the part of our "boy governor" to have only himself bring the "good news" to the public.
The company apparently has spoken to state officials in terms of eventually having 100 million dollars invested in its project, and that it will eventually provide 2,500 jobs. Those of us who were born at night, but not last night, look on those figures with a measure of skepticism.
The whole matter brings to mind the would-be developer of shore-line home sites on Kinkaid Lake of a few years ago. Unknown to the public he obtained a contract from an unsophisticated Kinkaid-Reed's Creek Conservancy District Board for the purchase of land, and began staking out lots and roadways in areas eminently unsuited for that sort of use.
An aroused public was told it was a "done deal" and nothing could be done to prevent it going forward. The developer intended to buy low, sell high, and depart, leaving the owners of houses and lots without sewage lines and durable roadways. Users of the lake for legitimate purposes, from all walks of life, rose up in wrath and undid the deal in short order. The developer departed, muttering about suing the board and the state. The board was reconstructed by the legislature, its management altered, and Kinkaid Lake preserved for its original purposes.
Another "done deal" that came undone when the public learned of it occurred when the state was in the process several years ago of purchasing 16,500 acres of land from a coal company to be added to Pyramid State Park. Governor George Ryan came to the Du Quoin State Fair and with one of his friends schemed to have 5,000 of those acres sold to a private group.
A state employee became indignant about all that and told a friend what was happening. He was so fearful of losing his job he would visit his friend only at night, under cover of darkness. His friend went to the Southern Illinoisan newspaper and it blew the whistle. Another potential wrong was righted, another "done deal" undone. The power of public opinion can untie many knots.
Pyramid State Park is a natural treasure of great value. It should be preserved intact as such.
Dirt bike tracks and amphitheaters, said by some to be amenities, are anything but so far as a park of great natural value is concerned. They can be built elsewhere, but not on park land that is the rightful property of the public.
David Kenney was director of the Illinois Department of Conservation, predecessor of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, from 1977 to 1984.
Published on: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 7:14 AM CDT
Developers make first public comment about Perry park plan
By JIM SUHR, the Associated Press
Developers hoping to turn part of Illinois' largest state park into a resort rivaling Missouri's Branson broke their public silence Monday, saying the plan and its 2,500 jobs would boost the region's struggling economy and assuage environmental worries.
While still offering few details about the project, the statement by the Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co. came one day after a newspaper quoted people close to the deal as saying that Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration had instructed the developer to keep quiet so he could announce it himself.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the directive came from Blagojevich's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been involved in talks on the project and could offer financing or other aid for it.
"It says we are not allowed to talk with the press until the governor announces the project," the newspaper quoted Geri Boyer, a Belleville consultant working with the developers, as saying.
On Monday, Boyer told The Associated Press no such gag order existed. Calling it "just a misunderstanding," she said a DCEO letter to developers months ago had "boilerplate language" that they not discuss any negotiations with the state publicly. Developers misconstrued that as meaning they could not publicly talk about the project at all, she added.
Boyer declined to produce a copy of the letter for the AP, calling it confidential.
Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the state DCEO, said only that the agency was aware of the project and that "our discussions typically remain confidential, which is standard practice even when we are still in the very preliminary stages.
"In Monday's statement, Toney Watkins, the development firm's chairman and chief executive, said "the lack of communication with area media was based on a misinterpretation of communications" between the company and the DCEO.Calls to Jacquie Vick, the company's spokeswoman, about the news release were not returned.
Published reports have suggested that the development near Pinckneyville, about 70 miles southeast of St. Louis, would be a recreational theme-park tourism destination featuring music entertainment venues, golf courses and a BMX bike-racing area.But Monday's statement offered no such specifics, saying the company has tapped Southern Illinois as its primary Midwest location for "a destination and convention resort" that would be family oriented.
The company confirmed it has requested Illinois legislative help to establish a relationship with the state's Department of Natural Resources and identify a "suitable" parcel of land within the roughly 20,000-acre Pyramid State Recreation Area.Lawmakers have said the Toney Watkins Co. wants to swap 2,000 acres of Pyramid land for an identical-sized parcel nearby, along with money to improve that land.
That legislative push was put on hold last week, however, after environmental groups questioned whether the state should part with park land and whether development would harm grasslands where they say the Henslow's sparrow and other rare birds have thrived.
Illinois state Sen. David Luechtefeld, a Republican from Okawville, said Monday the Toney Watkins Co. turned to the park land after negotiations for other acreage from a coal company fizzled.Luechtefeld said he could understand why the company limited its public comment, saying publicity about the project could drive up land prices beyond the firm's reach.
But he says the project "would change the face of a couple of counties," noting the Pyramid site is "20,000 acres we're doing absolutely nothing with."
"Ideally, the best thing is if they could buy from a private owner," he said. "But at least (the state land) was an option, rather than the project falling apart completely. If they don't get the land, it won't happen."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/04A1CF2ACF2D7A40862572F8000E6E21?OpenDocument
Illinois resort plan details shared
By Erik PotterPOST-DISPATCH SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
06/12/2007
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The developer behind plans to convert up to 5,000 acres of state parkland south of Pinckneyville into a Branson-like resort acknowledged its plans Monday, confirming that the Southern Illinois site is its first choice for the development.
Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based entertainment company, has before declined to weigh in on a project that surfaced as the state Legislature moved into an overtime session. The news release it issued gave few details about the plan, which the company claims will bring 2,500 jobs to the area.
The release and later interview with a company official confirmed that the project would be a "vacation destination and convention resort" on 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park — later expanding to 5,000 acres — in a $100 million initial investment that would feature BMX racing, golf courses and several music stages.
Geri Boyer, an engineer working on the project for Watkins, said that the company hopes to break ground on the first phase of development by late fall in order to complete the BMX facility in time to host U.S. qualifying rounds for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Where that ground would be broken is still an open question, however, as the plan to swap 2,000 acres of private land for 2,000 acres of state parkland faces stiff opposition from environmental groups and potentially from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources which controls the parkland.
Lawmakers are pushing hard for the company to find private land for the resort, billing the land swap as a last resort.
"No matter what, (environmental) groups will oppose (the swap), and that makes it extremely difficult to get this done," said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, who is helping to shepherd a bill through the Legislature that would authorize the natural resources department to make the trade.
Luechtefeld stressed the need to get Gov. Rod Blagojevich on board to ensure support from the Department of Natural Resources on the project. "The Department of Natural Resources works for the governor. Could it happen without the whole-hearted support of the governor? I don't see how.
"Lawmakers, the developer and environmentalists met last week to discuss the proposal, and the environmental groups have spent the weekend preparing feedback.Objections raised have included losing unique grassland habitat, dividing the park into two sections and establishing a precedent for "selling" state parkland.
"We were told in that meeting by the Department of Natural Resources that they didn't think (the department) had ever sold off a piece of a state park before," said Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, who attended the meeting. "If something like this were to happen, that would be a huge precedent. Where would it end?"
Goldman said the Audubon Society identified the targeted area of the park as one of the most important in Illinois for preserving the habitat of grassland birds, whose numbers have been falling nationwide.
Boyer said the company is committed to addressing many environmental concerns. "We feel confident we can put in money on our swap site to put in (grasses) that (the birds) like that will be better than what they've got," she said.
Monday's announcement is the first time the company has made any public statement about the proposed development, having declined previously to return reporters' phone calls. The Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that the company was honoring a written request from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity — a state agency charged with attracting economic development to Illinois — not to talk about the project until Blagojevich announced it publicly.
In its release, the company blamed its silence on a "misinterpretation of communications" with the state department, in which the company interpreted the state agency's request for privacy on the details of any financial assistance package it offered as a broader request to not discuss the project in general.
The project has been in the works for more than a year, with the developer attempting to identify suitable land in the area. The negotiations turned public two weeks ago when state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, filed legislation that would allow the state to trade a portion of Pyramid State Park for an equal amount of private land to make room for the resort.
Reitz' bill would authorize the Department of Natural Resources to make the swap only if the department found that the new land was better than the old in terms of serving the sportsmen and environmental community. That could mean that the developer would have to make both habitat and infrastructure improvements to the land, such as planting prairie grasses and building roads and boat ramps.
The bill is expected to move forward in the Senate on Thursday.
epotter@post-dispatch.com 217-782-4912
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/10/top/20544773.txt
Blagojevich: Don't talk until I do
By Kevin McDermott, The Southern Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration has ordered private developers not to talk about plans for a huge new resort near Pinckneyville until Blagojevich himself can announce it, sources say.
Some lawmakers who support the project say that public relations directive could be endangering the proposal.
"People have asked, 'If these (developers) are credible, why don't they answer the phone?'" said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. He is among several lawmakers who say they learned late last week of the administration's gag order, and now are pressing to have it lifted.
The Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based investment group, wants to construct a Branson-like, 5,000-acre resort near Pinckneyville, possibly under a controversial land swap arrangement with the state. That controversy has been heightened in the past week by the dead silence of the company and its lobbyists, to the point of failing to even answer reporters' phone calls.
Several legislators and company officials confirmed Friday that the reason for the silence is a directive from Blagojevich's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been involved in talks on the project and could potentially offer financing or other assistance for it.
Belleville consultant Geri Boyer, who is working with the developers, said the gag order was contained in a letter from the agency. "It says we are not allowed to talk with the press until the governor announces the project," Boyer told the Post-Dispatch.
She didn't specify what the letter referred to, and said she couldn't provide more details because of the agency's confidentiality directive. She said she and others are pressing the agency to allow the developers to say more. "We really would like to talk with you," she said.
Chicago attorney Walter R. Dale, general counsel and vice president for the Toney Watkins Co., also confirmed on Friday the existence of the letter, though he said he couldn't detail its contents because it wasn't in front of him. He said the company's public silence has been partly because "we're trying to get a clear reading on what we're allowed to discuss" as laid out in the letter.
A spokesman for the economic development agency initially denied on Friday that the agency has told developers not to discuss the project. When pressed specifically about the letter that Boyer and Dale said the developers received from the agency, the spokesman would neither confirm nor deny its existence.
"I'm not sure what letter she's referring to," said the spokesman, Andrew Ross. "We're aware of the project, but that's for the developers to talk about."He declined to comment further.
A message left with Blagojevich's office Friday wasn't returned.
Lawmakers who have been talking to developers for more than a year about the proposal said they learned of the gag order during a closed meeting with the developers' representatives on Thursday. It came to light after legislators asked the developers why media reports kept highlighting the lack of available information about the company and its plans.
"One of the things we jumped on them about was, 'Why haven't you answered your phones?' They said (the administration) said, 'Don't discuss this,"' said Luechtefeld."
We were upset about that. It looks suspicious when you can't get anyone to pick up the phone," Luechtefeld said. ". . . This (proposal) is something that can fall apart in a hurry. People who invest in this . . . if there's any doubt in their minds, they just go somewhere else."
Luechtefeld and state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, another participant in the meeting, said there are concerns that the gag order has complicated an already-difficult quest to get the project started."I wish they would have told me this earlier, so I would have had an answer for people who asked why (the developers) weren't returning calls," said Reitz. Like other lawmakers from the area, he views the resort proposal as a potential economic boon for the depressed Southern Illinois region. "They need to start telling people what this is about."'
What has been revealed is that the developers envision a $100 million recreational theme-park tourism destination - including music entertainment venues, golf courses, a BMX bike-racing facility and other amenities - near Pinckneyville, a town of about 5,400 people 70 miles southeast of St. Louis. Developers ultimately hope to have 5,000 acres of land under the project.
It's difficult to find an undeveloped piece of land that size (it's more than 10 times the entire acreage of Six Flags amusement park). Among the proposals the developers have brought to lawmakers is for the state to provide 2,000 acres of land from the north side of nearby Pyramid State Recreation Area, in exchange for the same amount of land currently under private ownership, with an option for another 3,000-acre trade later.
The 20,000-acre state park in Perry County is Illinois' largest, and environmentalists have raised concerns about turning over any of it for private development. Legislation is pending in Springfield to allow the land-swap, but Reitz and other supporters of the project view that as a last resort, and are pegging their hopes instead on talks between the developers and private landowners in the area.Pinckneyville sits in Illinois' economically devastated coal-mining region, and local and state officials have tried for years to come up with ideas to provide investment and jobs to the area. Lawmakers in the past week have said the resort proposal could potentially create 2,500 jobs.
But media attempts to talk to the developers themselves have been mostly fruitless. Dale, the company's executive vice-president, said that's partly because key company officials have been out of town lately and were caught off-guard by the controversy that arose when talk of the land-swap spread through the Legislature last week. He also noted the administration's letter requesting confidentiality.
Dale said details that have been reported about the company's plans so far are accurate, but he declined to offer further detail yet.
Debate over the issue is likely to resume when lawmakers return Tuesday to Springfield.
Published on: Sunday, June 10, 2007 7:22 AM CDT
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/05/top/20489888.txt
Legislators talking, state officials mum on Perry County resort idea
Published on: Tuesday, June 5, 2007 7:35 AM CDT
BY CALEB HALE, THE SOUTHERN
PERRY COUNTY - A proposed resort near Pinckneyville, described as Illinois' answer to Branson, Mo., may hinge upon the state's ability to swap state park land with a private company, legislators said Monday.A House panel will review the details of a Senate bill today, which would allow the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to trade roughly 2,000 acres of Pyramid State Park in Perry County with adjacent land a private resort and entertainment group might purchase to build a "state-of-the-art destination and convention resort," according to the company.
The Toney Watkins Co., based in Glen Carbon, has expressed interest in bringing the resort area to the region for two and a half years, legislators said. Work on the project has largely been done in secret, but it has now been turned over to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Larry Woolard, southern region director for DCEO, said he wasn't at liberty to discuss anything regarding the proposal Monday. Calls to the main DCEO office were not returned.
Southern Illinois legislators were more talkative about the project but clear on the fact officials have a long way to go before anything is official.
"There are a lot of things that have to be met," said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.
"My feeling about this particular situation is any kind of economic opportunity ...you need to take a look at."State Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said the state is on board with the proposal.
The company, he said, hasn't given a definitive answer yet."The state is very receptive, but because we don't have a hard commitment from them, even though they show us on paper what they are wanting to do ...we don't have any securities here," Bost said.
According to the legislation regarding the land swap, Senate Bill 778, the resort could bring as many as 2,500 jobs to the region. If realized, the project could be a boon for Pinckneyville, which lost major employer Technicolor Universal Media Services earlier this year.
Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder did not return a call to comment on the matter Monday.
caleb.hale@thesouthern.com 351-5090
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/942D5162612CD17F862572F10015C6C7?OpenDocument
Plans for resort and theme park take shape near Pinckneyville
By Terry Hillig
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/05/2007
PYRAMID STATE PARK: Toney Watkins Co. wants 5,000 acres there.
THE PROJECT: Plan envisions resort and theme park near Pinckneyville.
PINCKNEYVILLE — A proposed land swap involving state park property could be the first step in the development of a massive resort and theme park near Pinckneyville.Glen Carbon-based Toney Watkins Co. wants to exchange 5,000 acres the company has under option for 5,000 acres in Pyramid State Park.
The site being considered is southwest of Pinckneyville and about 75 miles southeast of downtown St. Louis.
State Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, introduced the land-swap measure in the Illinois House on Friday as an amendment to a Senate bill regarding other transfers of state property. It was referred to the State Government Administration Committee and, if approved, could return to the House floor for a vote as early as today, but probably later this week. Reitz said Watkins proposes to swap 2,000 acres initially and 3,000 acres for expansion later.
"The economic development potential is enormous," said Reitz, adding that the proposed first phase of development would involve a $100 million investment and provide jobs for 2,500 people.
The 5,000-acre theme park would dwarf Six Flags St. Louis, the amusement park in St. Louis County. Six Flags has developed about 224 acres of its 497-acre site. Pinckneyville Mayor Joe Holder said the proposed project is one of several to surface in recent years and that area residents don't get excited easily about such talk.
"We've had a lot of disappointments over the years," Holder said. "We've been left at the altar so many times that people don't take anything for granted.
"New investment would be particularly welcome in a community that depended heavily on a coal mining industry that has largely disappeared. The area got more bad news earlier this year when Technicolor Universal Media closed a local plant that produced CDs and DVDs and moved production to Mexico, Holder said. The plant opened 50 years ago — it produced vinyl records at the time — and had employed as many as 900 people, the mayor said.
The land swap would be contingent on a determination by the state's Department of Natural Resources that it is a fair exchange, as well as the company's agreement to restore the property transferred to the state and pay the state an unspecified amount of money.
Under the bill, the Department of Natural Resources would not enter into transfer negotiations before the company provides a bond equal to 10 percent of the appraised value of the state property.
Pyramid State Park has nearly 20,000 acres and is the largest park in Illinois. Most of the land was once strip-mined for coal. The state acquired the property over the last few decades but development has been slow, local officials said.
Toney Watkins Co. has a website (toneywatkins.com) that lists a post office box in Glen Carbon as its address. Efforts to contact Anthony "Toney" Watkins, the founder, director and chairman of the board, were unsuccessful.
The company is an Illinois corporation that was chartered in 2004 and began operating in 2005.
Its website describes a management team with more than 300 years of combined experience in the entertainment industry, including at least one former executive with Walt Disney Co. "Our company was founded for the specific purpose of developing a state-of-the-art destination and convention resort to cater to both the business community and families alike," the website says.
A video presentation on the site hints at a theme park, thrill rides, hotel, convention center, indoor water park and camping opportunities.
Reitz said no one could guarantee that the project would proceed but said he was optimistic enough about it to introduce the amendment.
"They don't know if they can get everything put together," he said.
thillig@post-dispatch.com 618-659-3638
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/05/local_news/news1.txt
Developers Target Recreational Resort in Perry County
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 2:18 PM CDT
PERRY COUNTY - Perry County could become the home of a theme park and convention center under a plan put forward by a hospitality and entertainment company based in Glen Carbon.Since at least the fall of 2005, the Toney Watkins Company has been pitching to state, regional and local leaders a plan to develop a convention center and music-based theme park on a 10,800-acre site in the southwestern part of the state.
Company chairman Toney Watkins in October 2005 gave an overview of the project--which he says will generate thousands of jobs for the area--at a meeting of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce's Infrastructure Council and Economic Development Council hosted at the Union League Club of Chicago.
Privately, several local leaders said they first heard of Watkins' proposal to develop the area as early as the start of 2006.The newspaper obtained from an anonymous source a copy of a business plan purporting to have been prepared by the Toney Watkins Company.
Watkins is targeting a plot of land west of Pinckneyville and north of Cutler that was formerly part of Consolidated Coal Company's Burning Star No. 4 Mine, according to the plan. The site's borders stretch from Illinois 154 on the north to Reese's Hills Road and Jamestown Road on the south. The parcel's east-west configurations run from Conant Road on the east to County Line Road on the Perry-Randolph county border.
A letter dated Jan. 15, 2006, attached to the plan says the proposed center is currently at the project development stage.
The letter bears Watkins' signature and describes the site, which would be named "The Nexus," as an "edutainment complex" that would cater not only to clientele from the corporate world for conventions and gatherings but also to families who want a vacation in Middle America.
Drawing on the principle of Wal-Mart's trademark Supercenters, the letter tells potential investors that The Nexus would provide everything that visitors could ask for during their stay, including lodging, entertainment and dining.
"Once they arrive on our site," the letter says, "they will not have to leave the complex until it is time for them to return home."
According to the plan obtained by the newspaper, the investment group would first secure 10,800 acres at the Burning Star site, with an eye toward acquiring 2,000 more acres also owned by Consolidation Coal for further development around the theme park.
The additional purchase of a 2,500-acre plot near Sparta in Randolph County currently owned by Peabody Coal Company would allow construction of employee housing for Nexus workers, the plan says.
The business plan lists projected costs for buying land at the Burning Star site at between $2,500 and $4,500 per acre, with the overall price totaling between $27 million and $32 million for the theme park-convention center.
The Peabody land is worth around $6,500 per acre, or a total of about $16.5 million, according to the business plan. An additional 3,000 acres in Randolph County could also be up for option, the plan says.
Once developed, The Nexus would include an indoor waterpark, an indoor ski dome, an ecosystem dome, a cultural center, an entertainment district featuring performance venues for genres of music ranging from country to jazz to rock-and-roll, three golf courses, a 25,000-seat arena, a sports complex and a 500,000-square foot convention center.
The plan also calls for development of a 250-acre theme park centered around 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.' A jazz village artist-in-residence complex would provide a place for musicians working at the complex to live and work.
Representatives from the Toney Watkins Company declined to comment specifically on when any formal announcement would be made regarding the development. Repeated calls to Watkins' cell phone were unanswered.
Jacquie Vick, senior vice president of corporate communications for the company, said although Perry County is one of several U.S. locations being considered as a site for the project, discussion or publication could jeopardize the selection process. Vick said she could not comment further on the project.
--Craig Shrum
http://www.duquoin.com/articles/2007/06/06/local_news/news1.txt
House Panel OKs Pyramid Land Swap
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 12:40 PM CDT
SPRINGFIELD - Developers of a theme park and recreational resort proposed for western Perry County got some good news on Tuesday in Springfield.
A House panel gave the state's Department of Natural Resources authority to swap 2,000 acres of land from Pyramid State Park with ground from an adjoining plot, with acreage from the park used as part of the proposed development. The bill--passed unanimously in committee--now awaits approval from the full House.
The exchange would allow the Toney Watkins Company, a Glen Carbon-based development company, to develop a tract from the state park as part of an entertainment complex that the developers say would include a sports complex, convention center, golf courses and a theme park.
Lawmakers emphasized that before any land swap could take place, the company would have to meet all conditions set forth by the IDNR.
"This is very, very strict language," said Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, in a telephone interview this morning. "They have certain things they must do because we've got to put that guard in place to make sure that everything's above-board. We must make sure that we proceed cautiously."
"All this bill does is give IDNR the right to transfer land if this group meets all the standards that they have to meet," said Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, on Tuesday. "It's not a bill that says it (the land) will be transferred--all it does is give them the power to transfer if this group meets all the requirements.
"Luechtefeld and state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, have been talking with developers for several years regarding the project, and Reitz said the proposal is still in its development stages.
"We've tried to craft this in such a way that it protects the integrity of Pyramid State Park and hopefully makes it better," Reitz said this morning.
The bill moving forward in the House establishes several safeguards, Reitz said, including a required 10 percent bond payment--probably between $400,000 and $500,000--from the company on the appraised price of acreage from Pyramid.The company would have to put up the bond before the land exchange proceeded, Reitz said.
"The amendment requires due diligence through the state, including appraisals to make sure it's a fair trade when we swap land," he said.
Reitz said the Toney Watkins Company made the first move in approaching the state about a possible land trade. The company originally planned to target real estate north of the site they are currently considering, he said, but that option apparently fell through.
That site was detailed in Tuesday's edition of the Call. According to a business plan purporting to have been prepared by the Toney Watkins Company in 2006, that site would have stretched from Illinois 154 on the north to Reese's Hills Road and Jamestown Road on the south. Conant Road would have been on the complex's eastern edge, while County Line Road on the Perry-Randolph county border was to be on the resort's west side.
The site currently under consideration by the company lies south of that original plot of land and is closer to Pyramid State Park.
On Monday, Reitz also contacted several environmental groups about the possible land exchange."I am just trying to make sure and see if they have any suggestions to make sure this bill is tight enough for everyone's concerned," Reitz said. He notified groups including the Sierra Club, the Environmental Council, Open Spaces, the Nature Conservancy and Pheasants Forever.
State officials will meet with those organizations to ensure the integrity of any land transfer, Reitz said.
Reitz had previously asked the Toney Watkins Company to contact the environmental groups but said that he understood from talking with representatives from those groups on Monday that they had not yet heard from the developers.
Reitz said he was uncertain when the full House would consider approval for the land swap authorized on Tuesday."This is an amendment to an omnibus land transfer bill--we have identified a bill in the Senate we might put it on instead," Reitz said.
Luechtefeld said he has included the measure as an amendment to a bill in the Senate that could move forward more quickly than legislation in the House. He said there's been no indication yet as to when state senators would consider approving the plan.
Lawmakers and local leaders alike said they have heard informal discussion of the recreational resort for the last several years, but they want to proceed with caution.
"If it is as large as what they are talking about and it does come to fruition, the amount of jobs and the level of pay and the overall econommy of Southern Illinois would skyrocket," Bost said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that's what would take place if it goes to the scale they're talking about."
"They have a minimum of $100 million invested and 2,500 jobs, and the economic development part of this makes it something we have to explore," Reitz observed. "But there are still a lot of unanswered questions."
--Craig Shrum
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/illinois/chi-ap-il-bransoninillinois,1,1029579.story
Lawmaker puts hold on land-swap effort for proposed resort
By JIM SUHRAssociated Press Writer
Published June 7, 2007, 3:26 PM CDT
A legislative effort to authorize a Southern Illinois land swap that would clear the way for a resort rivaling Missouri's Branson has been put on hold so environmentalists can study the plan.
State Rep. Dan Reitz, a Steeleville Democrat, said Thursday that he agreed to table the measure after hearing concerns about the development's possible impact on grasslands where conservationists say the Henslow's sparrow and other rare birds have thrived.
A private developer, Toney Watkins Co., wants to swap 2,000 acres near Pinckneyville for an identically sized chunk of the nearby 20,000-acre Pyramid State Recreation Area, the state's largest park.
But the Illinois Sierra Club and the Illinois Environmental Council question the wisdom of parting with any publicly held land. Environmentalists "have legitimate concerns," Reitz told The Associated Press Thursday after he met with Illinois Environmental Council chief Jonathan Goldman, Toney Watkins representatives and Illinois state Sen. David Luechtefeld, an Okawville Republican.
"I don't think trading state land is a good idea. We see this (measure) more as an option in case the developers can't find other private land," Reitz said, casting the meeting as an effort to raise environmentalists' "level of comfort" about the plan.
Specifics about the development have been elusive. Glen Carbon, Ill.-based Toney Watkins has not discussed the project publicly, and officials have not returned numerous telephone and e-mail requests from the AP for an interview.
Reitz said the company told him the project would include a theme park with music entertainment venues, a BMX bike-racing site and golf courses.
"I'm hesitant to say we're opposing this, but we have some very serious concerns," said Goldman. "It's our understanding the state has never sold off state park land. We're about advocating for more park land."
According to Reitz's measure, introduced in the Illinois House last week, the state expects at least $100 million in private investment in the project, ultimately leading to the creation of about 2,500 jobs near Pinckneyville, a town of some 5,400 residents about 70 miles southeast of St. Louis. The deal would hinge on whether the state Department of Natural Resources concludes the swap is fair, and whether the developers agree to pay an unspecified amount to the state and restore the property transferred to it, Reitz's measure says.
On its Web site, the company says it "was founded for the specific purpose of developing a state-of-the-art destination and convention resort to cater to both the business community and families alike." The site offered no details.
The project would be welcome news for the Pinckneyville area, stung in recent decades by a downturn in local coal mining and, recently, the shuttering of a 440-job plant -- Perry County's largest manufacturing employer -- where DVDs and compact discs were made.
Environmentalists say that, while they understand Pinckneyville's troubles, giving up park land might for an area's economic betterment may be dangerous precedent. "We own so few acres of land, so what we have we need to keep," said Kathy Andria of the American Bottom Conservancy and the Illinois Sierra Club. "Once it's in public hands, it should stay that way."
The Sierra Club's Jack Darin agreed. "Our parks were not set aside as land banks for future development projects, and that's what this developer appears to be looking at Pyramid state park as," he said. "If this was such a great project, there must be a place other than state park land where it can be done."
On the Net: Toney Watkins Co.: http://www.toneywatkins.com/
DNR's Pyramid state park site: http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/Landmgt/PARKS/R5/PYRAMID.HTM
Illinois Environmental Council, http://www.ilenviro.org/
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/articles/2007/06/07/top/20514301.txt
Resort plans for Southern Illinois on hold
Published on: Thursday, June 7, 2007 7:22 AM CDT
By Kurt Erickson, The Southern Springfield Bureau
SPRINGFIELD - A land swap aimed at paving the way for a Branson, Mo.-like vacation destination to be built in Southern Illinois is on indefinite hold.At the request of environmental groups, a state lawmaker put the brakes on the plan Wednesday, saying he wants to make sure the groups get a chance to review the proposal.
"They have legitimate concerns," said state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, who is sponsoring legislation regarding the land swap. "Fortunately, it looks like we'll have plenty of time."The Toney Watkins Co. wants the state to hand over 2,000 acres of land on the north side of Pyramid State Park in Perry County in exchange for the company giving the state a different parcel of property plus cash in return.
The Glen Carbon-based firm apparently wants to build a theme park-style resort with golf courses and bicycle racing tracks on the tract. The state hopes the project generates 2,500 jobs in an economically depressed area.
But, after hearing about the project on Friday, environmental groups like the Sierra Club said they needed more time to review it.
Among their concerns is the fate of the endangered Henslow's Sparrow, which nests in the grasslands that make up much of the reclaimed strip mine area.
Jonathan Goldman, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said the groups are not solely concerned with the project's impact on the flora and fauna of the area.
Rather, Goldman said there are broader policy questions that need to be addressed, including whether it's a good decision to give up a piece of state parkland."We're opposed to selling off state park land, period," said Goldman.
Goldman said it was alarming to environmental groups because the proposal surfaced as the spring legislative session was set to adjourn."It is typical end-of-session sleight of hand," said Goldman.
Further, he said the lack of information coming from the company raises questions."No one knows who this company is," said Goldman.
Since the project became public, the company has not made representatives available to answer questions. Repeated telephone messages left with company owner Anthony Watkins have not been returned.
Late Tuesday, Jacquie Vick, who is listed on the company web-site as a media contact, referred questions about the project to Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Ross said he was unaware the company had directed inquiries to him and reiterated an earlier statement that the state is aware of the project.
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said he has been skeptical of the project, but said he is willing to let the land swap move forward as long as the state is protected in the transaction.
Luechtefeld said the project could be a huge plus for the region, which has lost many jobs.
Legislation regarding the land swap has been switched from Senate Bill 778 to House Bill 29.
For Bill information and tracking:
Bill Status of HB0029
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=29&GAID=9&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=26622&SessionID=51&GA=95
Bill Status of SB0778
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=778&GAID=9&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=28747&SessionID=51&GA=95
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