The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

October 28, 2009

Boy Scouts close land deal for $100 million scouting center

By Jessica Farrish

An 11,000-acre local property marked as the future site of a new high-adventure base for Boy Scouts of America was purchased Tuesday by BSA, spokesman David Lavalle announced Tuesday.

Some 8,000 acres of the property, formerly owned by Meadow Creek Coal Co., is located around the Glen Jean area of Fayette County, while the remainder is located in Raleigh County.

Groundbreaking on a $100 million National Scouting Center that includes a high-adventure base is expected on the property in the spring, according to Lavalle.

“It’s coming, it’s real, it’s here,” Lavalle. “We’re going to get our preliminary planning done.”

The high-adventure base is expected to be built on “the bowl,” a site located on a part of the property known as “Garden Ground” in Fayette County.

Garden Ground is located on the west side of the New River and is bordered by the communities of McCreery, Thurmond/Stone Cliff and Mount Hope.

“There’s a whole bunch of planning, in terms of just people crawling all over that property to determine the scope of the project, how we’ll make this all come together,” Lavalle said. “Probably in the spring, we’ll have some kind of formal ribbon-cutting and turn dirt.”

Thirteen miles of the property is “next-door” to properties owned by the National Park Service.

NPS is partnering with BSA on the project, which is endorsed by Gov. Joe Manchin.

BSA purchased the property through Arrow WV, a non-profit BSA entity.

A private celebration is scheduled Nov. 18 at the Glen Jean Armed Services Reserve Center.

A model of the National Scouting Center will be unveiled at the event, and BSA officials will also recognize the support of BSA by Steve Betchel of the S.D. Betchel Jr. Foundation.

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The base will be built by qualified local contractors through an open bid process and will include sewer and water facilities.

It is expected to employ 80 full-time staff and 1,200 seasonal staff.

If all goes according to plan, the high adventure base will open in 2012, BSA officials had announced in June.

Fayette Commission President Ken Eskew said Tuesday that the BSA presence will be important to “the whole region” and will provide customers to small businesses, hotels and restaurants in the area.

“I think this is a huge opportunity for Fayette County, particularly, and surrounding counties,” said Eskew. “I can see the economic footprint over the upcoming years.

“We couldn’t ask for a better neighbor to the National Park,” he added. “It will be a low-density imprint there.”

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

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