Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 8, 1994 TAG: 9404080165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANASSAS LENGTH: Medium
"The Walt Disney Co. saw the enormous potential for opportunity in our great commonwealth," Allen said at a bill-signing ceremony. "And together we negotiated to bring an investment of historic proportions to Virginia through the creation of a mutually beneficial partnership."
Disney plans to build the $600 million American history theme park near Haymarket in Prince William County. Construction of Disney's America is expected to begin in 1995, and the company hopes to open the park in spring 1998.
Allen pushed hard for the Disney incentives, saying the park would create 19,000 jobs and pump millions of dollars into the state's economy and tax coffers.
Disney expects the park to attract about 6.3 million visitors a year.
Park opponents, led by the Piedmont Environmental Council, argued that Allen and Disney were overstating the economic benefits and virtually ignoring potential environmental and traffic problems in the rural area 35 miles west of Washington, D.C.
Supporters of the park depicted critics as fox-hunting elitists who oppose any development.
An anti-Disney's America group called Protect has filed lawsuits in state and federal courts challenging certain aspects of the proposal.
The largest portion of the incentives package - $131.5 million - is for highway-building bonds. About two-thirds of that is for road improvements that were planned anyway but had not yet been funded.
Disney guaranteed that sales taxes generated by the project will be enough to pay off the $49.1 million in bonds for roads directly linked to the park.
If the taxes fall short of the $3.8 million annual debt payments, Disney will pay the difference.
The package also includes money for tourism advertising, employee training and construction of a state visitors' center near the park's front gate.
Tickets to other Virginia attractions would be available at the visitors' center.
"This unique venture will expose Virginia's wealth of historic and entertainment tourist sites to millions of new visitors each year," Allen said.
The General Assembly approved the deal March 12, the last day of the legislative session.
by CNB