ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604080041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
AFTER OVERESTIMATING THE MONEY to come in this year, Explore Park is finding friends with good intentions and deep pockets.
When Explore Park needs a hand, Stan Lanford need only ask.
He is president of the Roanoke contracting firm Lanford Bros. Co. and employs highway construction workers who share a love of the woods. On Lanford's word, they will travel to Explore Park to improve its trails and roads.
He pays them, but donates their services.
"I don't get any resistance from anybody," he said. Lanford only wishes he could have joined the most recent detachment, which improved trails and roads as spring buds appeared in the canopy.
Lanford's soft spot for Explore is no surprise; he is co-chairman of the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the board that operates Explore. As a park director, Lanford knows the need for volunteers in the park, which overestimated the money it would receive this year.
The services of Lanford Bros. and a donation of crushed stone from Blue Ridge Stone Corp. for trails and roads solved most of a problem with the grounds and road maintenance budget, which was cut from $15,000 to $5,000. Lowe's of Roanoke and Northwest True Value, which runs three area hardware stores, donated tools, and hundreds of people donated their time.
For this reason - and despite an overall budget cut of 13 percent - General Manager Chet Simmons said he has reason to hope visitors this season won't notice a lack of tidiness or find a shortage of intriguing things to see and do. The park reopened Saturday for its third season and will admit visitors on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Oct. 28.
Internally, the park administration is doing what it can to lower expenses by not replacing office machines and by making minimum loan payments, Simmons said. The advertising budget, however, received a boost of about $5,000, bringing it to $18,000. There also is $12,000 set aside for printing, including new brochures.
During the five winter months when the park was closed to visitors, the staff and volunteers built an open-faced cabin like the ones Virginia frontiersmen lived in 250 years ago and an Indian wigwam from an even earlier period. They also planted 100 trees, arranged for different merchandise in the gift shop and laid the groundwork for new picnicking areas, a shore fishing program and a wheelwright's shop exhibit - all at little or no expense.
Donors are paying for the reconstruction of two landmarks that were moved from Botetourt County - Mountain Union Church will be finished by September; Brugh Tavern should be completed next year - so those funds cannot be spent on operations. The federal government is building the 11/2-mile Roanoke River Parkway, a branch off the Blue Ridge Parkway that leads to the park and will be done next year.
The revised budget calls for Explore to spend $905,000 during the 12-month period that ends June 30, down from $1.05 million in the original budget.
When the period began, budget analysts calculated that admission fees would total $150,000; the new figure is $60,000, which is based on doubling last season's attendance of 20,000. The River Foundation, the park's nonprofit fund-raising and capital projects arm, must reduce its operating subsidy to the park to only a portion of the budgeted $260,000, but the exact amount is unknown.
The state furnishes $400,000, which is Explore's largest operating subsidy; the next largest comes from Roanoke County, which has given $150,000 this year. Roanoke allocated $50,000 this fiscal year but will give only $25,000 for the year beginning July 1.
The authority and foundation owe banks about $170,000 and individuals $140,000 - expenses, park officials say, that can be traced to the startup of the park in 1994. The authority board has met in closed session to discuss the possible sale of 30 acres to retire a $70,000 bank loan. The other bank loans will be paid down as money allows, and park officials said they expect some individuals who made loans to convert them to gifts.
The land for sale, which is not in use and was never expected to support any park attractions, is considered surplus property, said Rupert Cutler, executive director. The state had to buy it to acquire the primary lands of the 1,300-acre park, he said.
Though one tract was sold last year, park board members are still debating the wisdom of further land sales, Lanford said.
"There are people who say, 'We better keep what we have,''' Lanford said. "There are those that say `We need the money now. We better go ahead and sell it.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 linesby CNB