Published: July 24, 2008 10:41 pm         

Committee wants BIG planners to be realistic

A committee member helping plan a $24 million project had a message for city leaders Thursday night: Keep it real.

Dr. Julian Chipley, a Beckley chiropractor on the Beckley Intermodal Gateway Steering Committee, said city leaders should be realistic and determine how much spending money the city actually has before going to the public with grand ideas, getting citizens hyped up — and then disappointing them when there’s not enough money.

“These ideas we have are all grand and glorious, and the public sometimes thinks we can do all this,” he said. “But where are we going to be in three years?

“... If we make a mountain out there and deliver a molehill, that’s going to be frustrating.”

Beckley Intermodal Gateway (BIG) is a $24 million project made possible through an earmarked $20 million from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA). The city must provide 20 percent in matching funds. It is slated to be built in an approximate 5-acre area, bound by Neville Street, Leslie C. Gates Place, Prince Street and Robert C. Byrd Drive.

The dollar gradually loses its value at any time — but that is especially true now with the recent economic downturn, Chipley said. A proposed parking facility could cost as much as $10 million, alone. Construction and labor costs continually rise, and planners should be concerned about exactly how far the federal money will go.

Government exciting — then crushing hopes of — citizens has become too much of a reality, according to Chipley.

“It’s done by both parties in every political election,” he said. “Everyone wants the dream, but what’s real?”

Other members echoed his concerns.

“We need to ask hard questions,” said Robert Martin, committee chairman and director of the Citizens’ Conservation Corps. “Is it realistic? Is it feasible? Is it reasonable?”

“We can sit here and come up with grand ideas,” said Mike Darby, committee member and president and CEO of Laurel Lodge Enterprises, a hotel and motel management company. “But the reality is that this is the amount of money we have.”

Members of the steering committee, a group of community and business leaders charged with helping plan the project, were given a 33-item “master list” Thursday night. This list contained several government, educational and business facilities that could be located at BIG. Mayor Emmett Pugh said these ideas survived the initial screening by the Lexington, Ky.-based Parsons Brinckerhoff engineering firm, project manager for BIG, and the FTA.

The master list included a new city hall, new city police department, five-story theater, a privately-owned restaurant affiliated with Mountain State University’s culinary arts program, a bike rental shop to serve Rails-to-Trails and new facilities for Greyhound buses.

Pugh emphasized city leaders are not set upon building a new city hall and police station. Otherwise, it would not involve firms like Parsons Brinckerhoff, which has a good reputation in public-private partnership projects. Committee members said the project will not spur economic development if it does not add something new that provides new jobs. The only way it possibly could, otherwise, is if Mountain State University received the current city hall property and was able to further expand.

“If you shift a place to a different lot, you haven’t generated new jobs or demand,” Darby said.

Chipley said Beckley P.D. needs newer facilities — but these could be located somewhere other than BIG. He suggested possibly moving the department to a place outside of downtown, where police officers would have better access to and from the building, and a place on even terrain.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com