FRANKFORT - On Wednesday, Gov. Steve Beshear unveiled plans for a new tourist attraction in Grant County that will feature a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark.
Ark Encounter LLC, a for-profit entity, and Answers in Genesis, the nonprofit ministry that built the Creation Museum in Petersburg, will partner to build the $150 million Ark Encounter on a 160-acre site.
“We are excited to join with the Ark Encounter group as it seeks to provide this family-friendly tourism attraction to the Commonwealth,” Beshear said. “Bringing new jobs to Kentucky is my top priority and with the estimated 900 jobs this project will create, I am happy about the economic impact this project will have on the Northern Kentucky region.”
Beshear was joined by Grant County Judge-executive Darrell Link and representatives from Ark Encounter and Answers in Genesis at a Wednesday morning press conference in Frankfort.
When completed in the Spring of 2014, the attraction is expected to draw 1.6 million visitors per year and create 900 full- and part-time jobs.
An independent consultant hired by Ark Encounter estimates the ripple effect on the surrounding area could be much larger. The total number of jobs created as a result of the project is anticipated at 14,000 and the overall economic impact to the region is projected at $500 million in the first year of operation.
• Photos: A Look at the Creation Museum
• Photos: Creating the Creation Museum
• Official press release about theme park
The centerpiece of the attraction will be a $24.5 million replica of Noah’s Ark built completely out of wood. Plans also call for a 14-acre walled city, a Tower of Babel, a children’s play area, special events area and an amphitheater.
Ark Encounter LLC has options to purchase about 800 acres, about 200 of which are suitable for development, in Grant County, Ky., near the Veterans Cemetery North in Williamstown.
The ark itself is expected to be paid for through donations to Answers in Genesis and the limited liability corporation will be responsible for funding the rest of the project.
Officials said financing for the project should be in place before construction begins in the spring or summer of 2011.
Beshear said the group has applied for tax incentives via the Kentucky Tourism Development Act, and the fact that the project has a religious theme should not be a factor in the approval process.
“We have reviewed it from a legal standpoint,” Beshear said. “I think it’s clear that this is an economic development project. Our laws don’t allow us to discriminate as to the entertainment subject matter of a theme park.”The tourism act allows the developer to recover up to 25 percent of the cost of a project by recouping sales tax revenue paid to the state on tickets, lodging and other items.
Some political observers took issue with the Cabinet for Economic Development, which will handle application and oversee the incentives.
“What on earth is wrong with our economic development cabinet?” said Edgewood attorney Mark Guilfoyle. “They sit on their hands while the airport twists in the wind, then they spend time and energy incenting an amusement park? That cabinet has really misplaced priorities.”
But some local elected officials were just as enthusiastic as state officials Wednesday.
“We’re going to get this Ark Encounter,” Link said. “With every ark there is a rainbow and at the end of this rainbow is a pot of gold.”
Mike Zovath, senior vice president of Answers in Genesis, said the ministry would be in charge of day-to-day operations and some exhibits would reflect the beliefs of the ministry.
“(There will) probably be no live dinosaurs,” he said, laughing.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics ministry that believes the world is only about 7,000 years old and that dinosaurs roamed the Earth at the time of Christ. Its Creation Museum features animatronic dinosaurs.
State Rep. Royce Adams, D-Dry Ridge, said Ark Encounter project will provide a “once-in-a-lifetime economic boost” for Grant County.
“This project will do two things for our community: It will add 900 permanent jobs at a time when they are extremely hard to come by, and it will become a worldwide beacon for those who share our faith,” he said. “I whole-heartedly agree with Judge-Executive Darrell Link, who said at the press conference that this extends
Thanksgiving for us by another whole week.”
But critics of the project took issue with state officials’ support of it.
While state support of a religious-themed project is probably not illegal, said Union attorney Ed Kagin, it is questionable.
“They’re implicitly endorsing this project, and I think that is improper,” he said.
Kagin is a frequent critic of Answers in Genesis, a board member of American Atheists, and founder of Camp Quest, a summer camp for atheist children.
“If the state would do the same for an atheist-themed park as it would for this, then I wouldn’t have a problem – but I kind of doubt they would,” he said.
Zovath said Grant County was chosen because of its location, which is less than an hour from the Creation Museum and convenient to three major airports. He said the park is also within a day’s driving distance (650 miles) for almost two thirds of the U.S. population.
Developers estimate 80 percent of the park’s visitors will come from out of state.
We’re going to get this Ark Encounter,” Link said. “With every ark there is a rainbow and at the end of this rainbow is a pot of gold.”
here's your fucking rainbow
