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Kalahari Resorts applying for numerous special-use permits Date published: 5/4/2010
BY BILL FREEHLING Fredericksburg residents will be able to comment later this month on four separate planning permits that Kalahari Resorts is seeking for its Celebrate Virginia resort. The permits deal with parking at Kalahari and the adjacent Fredericksburg Expo Center, the layout of Carl D. Silver Parkway, the height of the 11-story hotel and the digital sign that will front Interstate 95. The hearings, which will start shortly after 7:30 p.m. May 25 at City Hall, will be a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and City Council. After the hearings, the Planning Commission will consider making a recommendation on the permits, and then its portion of the meeting will end. After that, City Council members could choose to take up the Planning Commission's recommendations, or they could wait until their next regular meeting June 8. That will be the third public meeting this month concerning Kalahari's plans for Celebrate Virginia. On May 10 and May 24, the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority will consider elements of Kalahari's financing plans for the $260 million project. That plan involves selling bonds that go through the city EDA to gain municipal status. Kalahari must close on the first bond sale--a $25 million offering of tax-exempt bonds enabled by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act--by June 15. The resort hopes to sell the remaining taxable bonds later this year. The four permits Kalahari applied for are all contingencies that are part of its contract to buy the land from the Silver Cos., said Scott Little, who is managing the Celebrate Virginia South project for the Silvers. Little said investors wouldn't buy the bonds if the contingencies were still there. The four permits Kalahari is seeking are:
Can you imagine what traffic will be like after this goes in? Hell, it ALREADY stinks!
and I must admit that there is something about the whole Kalahari project that bother me too. I have had this feeling from the first time I read about the project. However, I am unable to put my finger on exactly why. I suspect my problem may be the location. When the thing is up and running, if it meets expectations, it will pack an awful lot of people in that area.
All the rosy predictions of a golden future promulgated by a select few positioned to garner a tidy windfall deserves skepticism -- certainly more than is offered from those charged with custodianship of our city. Special permits; creative financing, dangled promises of interest from regional, national and international companies ( can't say who!)! Once this behemoth lifts off there'll be no controlling its impact, some positive, surely, most negative. Simply put this area is ill suited for this project.
Do those eggs come fresh, over easy, sunny side up, part of the souffle or boiled on the half shell and served up for our next breakfast meeting? If Kalahari has something to sell Fredericksburg, and Fredericksburg wants to buy, why can't Kalihari do a better job of selling their product? No one is celebrating a failure, but after 3 years you would think Kalihari might at least appear feasible. I'm not holding my breath waiting for the fog to clear. A little sunshine might help, but where does it come FROM?
it could fail ..at any step in the process. so what? why would
he cheer for it to fail? If it succeeds, the region will benefit,
if it fails, then too bad.northing ventured, nothing gained.
Celebrate Va North was never promised to be resort
commercial. Again, why point to something else that is not
panning out as fast as hoped- as the rationale for not
supporting this?
this is silly. if something better shows up in the meantime,
we have room for it also. we need MORE eggs in the
basket.
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