Board votes to pursue park study

A feasibility study to determine whether a proposed indoor water-theme park would be a success is now in position to move forward.

The Shoals Chamber of Commerce board voted Thursday to pursue the study and will solicit proposals and evaluate consultants who want to conduct the study.

Developer Roger Brown, a Shoals native and partner of Nashville-based Centrum Properties, has agreed to pay for the study, officials said.

Brown owns Doublehead Resort near the Lawrence-Colbert County line. His company specializes in residential and commercials developments.

Brown was unavailable for comment Thursday.

If the proposal is viable and if it's approved, the park would be built in Florence's Veterans Park and would satisfy the area's commitment to a tourism project involving the Retirement Systems of Alabama.

The project involves two Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail courses in Colbert County and a luxury hotel and convention center in Florence.

In November, Brown, several local leaders and an RSA representative visited Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., where they toured an indoor water park.

The park, which is between Chicago and Minneapolis, includes water slides, tubing and wading pools.

The group included chamber President Steve Holt. They returned with interest in exploring a similar park for the Shoals.

Although Brown will pay for the study, the chamber will ultimately select the consulting company.

"The next logical step is to coordinate a feasibility study to determine whether the Shoals area could sustain this type of development," Holt said. "Our role would be to get the feasibility study done. We're not looking to find the lowest priced or the highest priced. We're trying not to let price be the issue but experience (of the consultant)"

Holt said, based on similar projects, "the water park would highlight the natural resources provided by the Tennessee River."

Holt said consultants will have to consider the potential radius from which tourists would be drawn to the area in order to determine the proper size of the proposed park.

"We're told there's half a dozen consultants around the country that do those things," Holt said. "If there's 20 (consultant companies) out there, we would send all 20 requests for proposals."

Any major development at Veterans Park will need financial backing from investors. The Public Park Authority of the Shoals, which includes local governments involved in the RSA project, has set aside $2 million for a Veterans Park project.

That money, however, would be used to assist in resolving infrastructure needs at the park.

The project will ultimately need to receive approval from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns the land.

"It's something that will fit at Veterans and complement the hotel and the conference center as well as the golf course," said Dick Jordan, vice chairman of the Public Park Authority.

Florence officials have received other ideas for possible developments at Veterans Park, including a whitewater rafting park (shoalswhitewater.com), which has received some preliminary work.

None of the other projects has received financial backing for a feasibility study.

"We just have not had the finances to fund a feasibility study on so many projects," said Florence Mayor Bobby Irons. "We have received numerous suggestions but the indoor park seems to be a workable solution to this challenge."

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