Lodge development back on table

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September 12, 2008

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By BILL MARDIS, Editor Emeritus The Commonwealth Journal Fri Sep 12, 2008, 04:20 AM EDT

Somerset — The search for a private developer to build and operate a lodge on General Burnside Island State Park is back on the table.

Gil Lawson, spokesman for the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, said proposals have been received from the private sector in response to the state’s most recent Request for Proposals (RFP) to develop a lodge at the state park in Burnside.

The proposals are currently being reviewed by the Finance Cabinet, Lawson said. “I can’t say how many proposals we have ... all I can say is that it’s more than one.” He said the proposals will be “...under review for the next few weeks.”

At least two previous prospective developers are in the mix.

“We’re still very much interested,” said Mike Czer-wonka, president of Czerwonka and Associates, Louisville. He said his group submitted one of the proposals the Kentucky Finance Cabinet is currently considering.

“We believe this is a huge opportunity for both the Commonwealth of Kentucky and General Burnside (Island) State Park,” Czerwonka commented. And, according to Czerwonka, his group has a grandiose plan for a resort at the Burnside state park.

Czerwonka said the proposal he presented is for a four-star resort. He didn’t specify, but generally a four-star rating means amenities such as conference or banquet facilities, good restaurant, and plushly furnished guest rooms, among other luxuries. Czerwonka has told the Commonwealth Journal he is prepared to invest $100 million in the project.

If successful, his group would operate the entire park and its facilities, including the newly renovated golf course. Residents of this area apparently would get special attention at the resort’s facilities, if developed according to Czerwonka’s plan.

“We did make a proposal for local residents and golf fees,” Czerwonka revealed. He also said he has assured the state that all employees of the park will be American citizens, “...something we feel very strongly about.”

Czerwonka believes a four-star resort at Burnside would be a financial success.

“This would be the first state park in history that makes money,” Czerwonka predicted. “With professional operation, we think it would make money and we would pay a significant amount to the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the privilege of operating the resort,” he said.

Czerwonka said his group has no problem with paying the prevailing wage rate, a hourly pay scale with benefits and overtime paid in the largest city in each county. This court-ordered requirement cooled the project during the latter days of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration.

The Louisville developer said his group’s proposal is not predicated on the $4 million originally promised by the state for infrastructure and then allegedly shifted to the horse park in Lexington.

Lawson told the Commonwealth Journal Wednesday afternoon that “...there are no $4 million in the current proposal (for the lodge at General Burnside Island State Park).”

A copy of the most recent RFP was not available, but Czerwonka said the scope of the proposal has not basically changed. Previous RFPs called for lodge and attendant facilities to be developed on a 22-acre site on the north end of the 430-acre island.

Kentucky Department of Parks, based on previous RFPs, wants a lodge with at least 50 rooms, a swimming pool, gift shop and other features found at state resort parks. Burnside Island State Park currently has a newly renovated 18-hole golf course and campground.

The Webb Companies, a Lexington-based con-glomerate, has expressed intense interest in building and operating a lodge at the park for 30 years. The Webbs are currently developing CentrePointe, a $250 million skyscraper in downtown Lexington.

“We submitted an official proposal with a deposit,” Dudley Webb said Wednesday afternoon. He said the project hasn’t changed much except the state has deleted all incentives, including the $4 million for infrastructure.

“It’s a bare-bones project,” Webb said. However, he expressed confidence that the “resources are out there” and it is going to take a concentrated effort to find the assistance.

“We submitted a proposal because we believe in the community ...we believe in the project,” said Webb. “That golf course is beautiful,” he added, referring to the recently renovated facility.

“We got to the point (in the late 80s) where we submitted a proposal (for the lodge),” Dudley Webb recalled. “But we never heard back (from the state).

“I don’t know what happened. ... It was sort of weird. ... I don’t know if the politics changed down there,” he said.

The project appeared dead late in the Fletcher administration. Interest waned when the state deleted $4 million for infrastructure and a Franklin Circuit Court’s temporary restraining order demanded the prevailing wage rate be paid.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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