Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The company's decision to kill plans to build Disney's American near Haymarket, on the outskirts of the Manassas Battlefield National Park, stunned friend and foe alike.
Only last week, the park won vital approval from a local planning board, but fierce, influential and well-funded opposition could have delayed construction indefinitely, said Dana Nottingham, president of the project.
``Time is money,'' he said, ``and the bottom line is we had to make a decision about going forward with a $650 million development.''
Disney intends to search for another site first in Virginia, where lawmakers had eagerly approved $163 million in bonds for road widening and other improvements requested by Disney.
But Nottingham said he doesn't know when a site will be found or what Disney will do with the 3,000 acres of land it already owns or holds options to buy.
``We're regrouping,'' Nottingham said. ``It's the first day of our assessment of the situation.''
But he and other executives stressed that Disney still sees a future in an American history park, a pet project of CEO Michael Eisner.
``We think it's a fabulous idea,'' said attractions president Judson Green. ``We're committed to it.''
Disney's abrupt about-face caught even insiders off guard.
``I think it was an Eisner level decision,'' one senior Disney official said Thursday. ``I don't think a lot of us were aware of this when they went to bed last night.''
The announcement eclipsed a publicity extravaganza at Walt Disney World, in which hundreds of journalists were being shown new theme park attractions and hotels.
Instead of simply stumping for Disney's All-Star Resorts or the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Green and attractions chairman Dick Nunis found themselves fielding tough questions about an unbuilt theme park hundreds of miles away.
In Virginia, Gov. George Allen, who championed the project from the outset, was staggered by the news delivered to him in Richmond as he celebrated Wednesday night's passage of a pet crime bill.
Virginia is still scrambling to keep the project somewhere in the state, but Maryland Gov. William Donald Schaefer quickly offered to help Disney relocate north of the nation's capital.
``Virtually any other state in the union would be very pleased to get this sort of investment and it's now a whole new ballgame,'' Allen said bitterly.
The flag flew at half mast in front of the Haymarket town hall.
Most of the townspeople and many in surrounding Prince William County were in economic mourning for lost largesse: 3,000 jobs inside the park, another 15,000 more outside the park and $12 million a year in new tax revenue once the park opened in 1998.
Meanwhile, opponents were jubilant that the theme park, hotels, campground, golf course, office buildings and shops would not be built on the rolling hills of western Prince William County.
They had predicted everything from the trivialization of history to traffic gridlock and increased air pollution.
``It's never easy for a company to reverse itself on such a highly visible issue. But it is to Disney's great credit that it has done so, recognizing in the process the important preservation, environmental and other issues involved,'' said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
From the beginning Moe kept in touch with theme park officials. Like other principals in the struggle, he got a call from Eisner late Wednesday.
The Piedmont Environmental Council, among the first groups to organize opposition to Disney's park, said it would not fight the building of a park elsewhere in Virginia unless it created problems of urban sprawl.
``We think that Haymarket was the wrong place,'' said Bob Dennis, the organization's president. ``We hope they find a better place.''
Better, according to Disney officials, means less controversial.
Green said the continuing sniping by historians and environmentalists occupied too much of the company's time and threatened to interfere with the creative process of designing a theme park.
``Everything else was overshadowing what we were trying to accomplish,'' he said.
Nunis said the opponents were well-financed and could have delayed the park for years by filing lawsuits.
``We just didn't want to get involved with that,'' he said.
by CNB