Push is on for park attraction

Florence - Music, minstrels and whitewater are just some of the ideas for a Veterans Park attraction, the third phase of the tourist development project funded by the Retirement Systems of Alabama and local governments.

The push is on to transform the 83-acre park into a tourist magnet.

"We need to move on to come up with something over the next 60 to 90 days, and see if it's economically viable," said David Bronner, CEO of RSA, a public pension fund that has invested nearly $70 million in the project. Local governments have invested an additional $16 million.

"Ideas like me putting a dome over it and selling flowers won't work," Bronner joked with an audience of 300 former and current politicians and business and community leaders Thursday at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center.

Jokes aside, many share the frustration that the park still has no tourist attraction, years after the completion of the accompanying Marriott Shoals Hotel and Spa and two courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. Bronner said he hoped the attraction would produce overnight stays at the hotel, attract visitors to come back and operate most of the year.

"A timeline on it is very much in order," said Florence Mayor Bobby Irons.

In the past two to three years, Irons said his office has received about 20 ideas that include at least four suggestions for water parks, three for renaissance villages, a botanical garden, tennis court stadium, an aquarium, a beach area, even a tram across the Tennessee River.

Irons said the suggestions, while welcome, need to include business plans that show a potential project's costs and economic impact on the Shoals.

"Nobody is going to jump on a project if you don't know if it costs $10 or $50 million," Irons said. "It's got to be something that's going to pay its own way."

Partial funding will come from the Public Park Authority, an oversight committee that controls $2 million for the project. Irons said no money has been appropriated from the city so far.

Three of the most recent proposals include a concert hall, a medieval village and a whitewater park.

Leon Graham, a retired Shoals business leader, discussed a possible concert hall on Tuesday with several community leaders, including Irons, Marriott manager Larry Bowser, members of the Chamber of Commerce, Music Preservation Society Executive Director Nancy Gonce and members of the Florence Planning Department. He said a possible musical venue would tie in with the area's musical heritage, but he did not have a formal business plan.

Clark Mueller, a UNA professor of political science and history, recently approached the Florence city council with a plan for an artificial whitewater park, a plan that requires "water, land, slope and, of course, money. We think it is possible that Veterans Park would be ideally suited to such an endeavor," Mueller wrote council members Angie Pickens and Scott Carrier in an e-mail.

The Alabama Renaissance Faire proposed a medieval village recreation, said the association's chairman, Billy Warren. The proposal would expand upon the annual event that attracts 30,000 people to the area during two days in late October, Warren said.

Previous suggestions for tourist attractions include outdoor shops Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, however, which owns the land, clarified its land use in April with a policy that forbids retail or commercial developments but allows commercial recreation developments.

Once the city receives a potential plan, Irons said the first move would be to send any proposals to RSA for approval.

"Bring your suggestions in, but bring substance," Irons said.

Trevor Stokes can be reached at 740-5728 or trevor.stokes@timesdaily.com