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Red River Economic Development (RRED) commissioned international planning firm Stantec to create a comprehensive study for bringing a destination resort to the Red River Gorge and expanding tourism in the region. View a full timeline of the project here >>>
The study created by Stantec was completed in 2020 at which point the firm produced a number of documents. These documents are dense and numerous and difficult to decipher. So to assist we’ve created this section of our website to help people understand the complex report including how it would affect the region and how it would come into existence, if at all. Included on each project description will be clear information about how each project will be funded and a description of whether it be with public or private money. In addition information will be included about which organization is named by the report as the champion responsible for each specific project’s completion.
Further, we’ll also use this section of the website to better define the position RRGU has taken on each specific project and proposed development that was named in the 2020 Stantec report.
View a spreadsheet of our positions on each proposed project here
To assist in understanding these wide range of documents we’ve created various documents and broken things into to main categories: projects which will be publicly-owned vs projects which will be privately owned.
The majority of the projects that were suggested by the Stantec study include general enhancements to the region and have no ownership connection to the proposed RRED “destination resort” development. However, this also means that the building of the resort in no way affects whether any of these proposed projects are built, or even become more than mere concept.
Each of the below projects was assigned a potential “champion” or group which Stantec thought would be a good fit to “own” and complete each of their suggested projects. Funding sources are also briefly and generally suggested, but no further feasibility is given. The completion of these projects have no bearing whatsoever on the completion of the proposed resort. These projects are completely independent and both RRED and the proposed resort have made no indication that they would assist with any of the proposed non-resort projects, financially or otherwise beyond this Stantec study.
Just about everyone can agree that the majority of these projects are appealing. What’s concerning to members of RRGU is how these many universally positive (but far from becoming a reality) projects were wrapped around a resort project which draws a tremendous amount of negative criticism. People in the area have described this as the “carrot trick” – dangle a carrot (something appealing) from a string that never gets closer to keep someone’s attention while you distract them from something else.
See RRGU’s positon on all
Learn more about each individual project or worrisome development by clicking on a link below:
Some of the features of this proposed resort which are most concerning to our group are listed below:
“A Gaming Option” such a slot-machine-like Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines, or off-track betting was part of the original RRED Concept Paper. RRED alleges this has been taken off the table but no laws, restrictions, or regulations currently exist to prevent any developer from adding this to boost revenue after the resort has been built.
RRGU opposes this fully
Building of a themed village was an early suggestion from RRED and the HVS study. With little firm information from RRED about potential visitation from their development the preliminary Stantec report repeated the HVS suggestion that a themed village alone could bring 1-2 million new visitors to the region. It was at this point that RRGU members established our petition in opposition which has gathered more than 43,000 signatures as of June 2021.
RRGU opposes this fully
RRED is encouraging the adoption of a logo and brand identity for the area which was created by RRED, and presumably gives them copyright over the logo. This also creates potential trademark problems or licensing fees for any groups or businesses hoping to use the brand.
The logo and brand identity was ultimately guided by some local input, but locals were never asked if they wanted a over-arching brand for “The Gorge” and concerns about the needs and intentions behind such a brand were raised in meetings of the “Local Advisory Board” during the Stantec planning process.
Process issues aside, the logo was clearly developed hastily and without much in-depth research around actually promoting the region as a whole. Because while many Kentuckians, hikers and campers may know the region as “The Gorge,” those in the significantly more-widespread international climbing community (those currently responsible for a majority of current tourism ) refer to the region almost exclusively by a totally different name: “The Red.” There was no mention of this in the brand development collected by Stantec for RRED that is available online.
How can a comprehensive tourism strategy recommend a unifying brand mark and make no mention of this huge detail? We can only assume the brand identity and accompanying marketing strategy are deeply flawed and were likely developed hastily and without any real research or in-depth analysis. Certainly more research was needed for such an important brand as the Red River Gorge.
It’s disappointing, but not surprising considering the “top-down” approach the RRED organization has taken for the entire project. In the case of RRED, real input by locals has always been swallowed like a bitter pill, if taken at all. Or at least that has been the experience of RRGU’s members.
RRGU opposes this fully
A $14 million dollar “gateway experience” bridge that would cross above the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway and cut an entrance road up an existing creek and to the center of the resort property.
There is no planning or zoning in Powell County, which means there’s nothing to prevent resort developers from putting a giant flashing digital sign along this new bridge facing in both directions, promoting group dining deals and exclusive offers at the destination spa at the resort. If the resort was to ever add a casino-like “gaming” element – which RRED would have no way to prevent after the resort was built, as they’ve clearly stated , if they would oppose such an idea at all – then this overpass bridge to the resort could have giant gambling promotions or drink deals in the lounge with certain betting qualifiers.
The overpass bridge is billed by RRED and Stantec as a “gateway to Eastern Kentucky” probably because it’s difficult to say anything bad about a title like that. But let’s be honest here.
In reality it’s just a gateway to the new resort and a way to get the entrance out of the 100-year floodplain. An alternative access road to the resort already exists and this proposed new road and bridge are unnecessary beyond creating an inescapable “look at me” feature.
Building of this grand new entranceway would also take place at the expense of destroying the existing Timothy Branch creek, the creek which the new road would need to be built into. This construction project, which is almost certain to be extremely intrusive and destructive for natural flora, is described in the report as a “stream restoration.” A more appropriate name might be an “intensive complete reconstruction.” Anything less is frankly dishonest.
RRGU opposes this fully
One of the earliest studies guiding this RRED development is an HVS report recommending maximum of 175 rooms. There are many numbers floating around for the total number of rooms the resort will have, (170, 175, or 180), and that ultimately speaks to RRED’s lack of transparency with the project. HVS recommended a maximum of 175 that the region could hope to support, but RRED seemed to push to that number to 180 without any explanation or justification for the increase.
The Stantec report also uses a count of available cabin rentals in the Gorge region that RRGU members believe to be greatly underestimated. It is a known local pain that nobody has a great count for the total number of available cabin rentals in the region and is something local officials have been working to get a better grip on. But the significance to our needs is that with an underestimated cabin-rental total this means the Stantec report about available capacity for room nights is based on inherently-flawed information.
It is certainly within the realm of consideration that the impacts on local cabin rental-businesses from the resort, or alternately the impact from the cabin-rental business on the resort, are miscalculated. RRGU worries about the negative impacts of such miscalculations on the delicate economy of the region’s “mom-and-pop” businesses.
RRGU opposes this fully
There are very few career-path jobs that will be created with this proposed project. The Stantec report claims roughly 325 new jobs. But how many of those are skilled labor? Judge Executive Anderson from Powell county has been quoted as saying “Every kid that graduates high school here should have the opportunity if they choose to be able to come back home and work. That historically has not been the case.” But these jobs average just $33k per year with the exception of some manager and distillery positions. Judge Anderson and others have expressed worry about the “brain-drain” from the area, but how will adding 325 largely-unskilled positions going to change anything?
Who are these jobs going to? In April 2021, the unemployment rate in Powell County was 3.9 percent – lower than the Kentucky average. Local business owners have expressed repeatedly that they often are forced to close their doors in fall and winter months because they simply cannot keep enough employees to run operations. If local businesses are struggling to keep employees right now, then where will 325 new employees come from for this proposed “destination resort” just thousands of feet away?
RRGU members worry that this shortage of employees will lead to the unforeseen or unhighlighted consequence that many, or even a majority, of resort employees will come from H1 or H1b visa applications. Anyone who has been to a ski resort in an isolated location such as Snowshoe, WV or many resorts in the Rocky Mountains will understand this situation. These resorts are located in places which just do not have an employment pool large-enough or within a close-enough driving distance to employ a resort of that size. Because of this, the need for staff leads the resort to recruit H1 work visa applicants which require a job to be accepted into the U.S. and as a result it is international tourists – NOT LOCAL RESIDENTS – which receive these jobs. Overall this is appealing to a resort owner who is not really concerned with employing local residents, as H1 visa employees do not need to be paid benefits. Therefore these visa workers are just cheaper on the dollar than locals.
RRGU members have asked RRED to commit to hiring exclusively locals but they have not made any such commitment. This action, or lack of action, should be worrysome in itself. Even if the development wants to hire only locals the employee pool in the region may not be capable of supporting such a need. RRGU would like to, at a minimum, see a commitment from RRED to hiring a large majority of Kentucky residents to fill its full-time positions at the resort.
RRGU opposes this fully
Stantec and RRED have been careful to promote that their resort, if developed, would only take up 10 percent of the 891 acres of the resort land (careful not to mention that little other developable land remains when avoiding building within 200 feet of a cliff). However, what land they are using is going to be very dramatically altered.
To cope with water drainage and flooding issues downstream created by the resort’s large footprint, developers will will need to create large retention ponds. The Stantec report seems to suggest running with this and expanding the ponds into a size large enough to be navigated by small boats, and to include features such as a large water fountain.
One of the reasons water-retention ponds are needed is because the large footprint of the resort greatly reduces the amount of available soil to absorb the rainfall and return water into the water table. With a large resort diverting all rainfall from its roof and parking lots to each side the local creeks are forced to accept the additional drainage water. This causes the creeks to swell and, if not handled, to potentially flood downstream – endangering local residents. Adding water-retention ponds gives the excess water somewhere to collect before rushing downstream, and allows the large influx of new water to drain gradually over a longer period of time, which reduces risk of flooding.
What will be unavoidable is the massive changes and reconfigurations to the land that will be required to create such ponds. That 10 percent of the land which the resort will occupy will forever be irreversibly changed.
RRGU opposes this fully
RRED and Stantec members have suggested that people visiting the Red River Gorge-branded resort will want to use newly created trails on the resort property instead of actually visiting and hiking in the Gorge. This is an unrealistic projection to assume guests visiting a resort based around the Red River Gorge will not want to actually set foot within the physical bounds of the Gorge itself. If anything it will result in the trails closest to the resort becoming extremely heavily trafficked as resort guests choose the closest and most easily-accessible trail.
Stantec and RRED have given no provisions to handle the influx of inexperienced visitors on trails beyond vaguely recommending a new shuttle system to handle vehicle traffic and parking without further info on feasibility or implementation except suggesting a shuttle parking location. A new shuttle service could assist with traffic problems but does nothing to help with traffic on trails. Stantec and RRED have suggested that resort guests would stick to the resort property, despite the fact that the entire resort would be both branded and marketed around visiting the Red River Gorge. We feel it is unrealistic to assume resort guests would not want to visit the actual Gorge, and it is not genuine to suggest otherwise.
Further we at RRED worry about the safety of these inexperienced visitors. Already in 2021 there have been many deaths and many more rescue operations in the Red River Gorge and surrounding region. There are very safety features at the Gorge whatsoever. One can only assume that this influx of new visitors, which Stantec insists will be a “different kind of visitor” than those who normally visit the Gorge, must eventually lead to a dramatic increase in deaths, injuries, and rescue operations in the region. Deaths and injuries need no explanation, but increases in the need for rescue operations only stresses the increasingly limited resources of search-and rescue units which exist in the region.
RRGU opposes this fully
The most appealing renderings and suggestions for this pool feature resemble a pool cut directly into the bedrock and filled with water. The most unappealing suggestions for this pool feature include a water park complete with plastic indoor-outdoor slides and year-round options for attendance. Is this another “carrot trick” game? Show us the pretty rock-cut pool straight out of a designer magazine and then throw up a gaudy water park once everyone has their back turned? If the resort is built, then only time will tell.
Early Stantec plans have comparisons to places like Wilderness at the Smokies in Sevierville, TN and Great Wolf Lodge in Mason OH, both of which contain large indoor/outdoor waterparks with indoor sections that are open year round.
With RRED and Stantec repeatedly insisting that, due to a lack of zoning, any development could be much worse we can only assume that developers will want a waterpark facility. We assume that if they do not plan to pursue one now then they will want to pursue one eventually. A recurring theme with the report was the need for four-season attractions and emphasis was placed on the pool or “indoor water feature” to provide this. Despite the specifics with other parts of the resort details, the four-season attraction with the pool has been very vague, with Stantec referencing an “indoor water feature” or “maybe an indoor climbing wall” in virtual town hall meetings.
An indoor climbing wall seems strangely unnecessary when considering the fact that the resort would be centrally-located in one of the most premiere outdoor climbing destinations in the United States and world. Perhaps if it was a wall at least large enough to host national and/or international climbing competitions then it would be of real and genuine use to the region as a source of a new kind of less-impactful tourism. However, we must also consider the impact that inexperienced resort guests in training classes would have on crowding and wait-times at actual rock-climbing crags in the region, and in that unfortunate case we would welcome an indoor climbing wall as a way to reduce traffic and increase availability to more experienced climbers who are also visiting the region.
In town hall meetings Stantec and RRED members suggested that a pool would be a great addition to the community and something the community could enjoy as well, since Natural Bridge has the only public pool in the area. However with RRED talking about rooms which cost $350 per night we here at RRGU find it unlikely that resort guests paying this amount will want to have locals in their pool. If the resort were to charge locals something like $20 per person per day, as other comparable luxury resorts do for similar features, then this would exclude locals from being financially capable of enjoying the pool/water park facilities on any kind of a regular basis. Underprivileged rural Eastern Kentuckians in need of high-paying career-path jobs cannot afford $20 per person per day to go to a pool.
RRGU opposes this fully
First thing’s first, we love bourbon as much as the next person, but we feel that this unimaginative feature was tacked on to make the project more palatable rather than being genuine idea which was conceived as a core function of the resort.
To be fair, nobody has specified that this would be bourbon distillery. Plans only call for a distillery or micro-brewery of some kind, without any further specification. Our most optimistic thoughts hope that this would take the form of a local resident distiller moving into the space and using it to hone their craft and produce a quality handmade product that any Kentuckian would be proud to have two miles from the Red River Gorge. However we must realistically assume that this will be a space manipulated by a big-box distillery for large financial-gains to the resort and at the expense of a lot of potential character and enticing charm.
To be honest, nobody knows what form this distillery would take. It could become a distillery and cigar bar lounge with off-track betting and slot-machine-like Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines everywhere. RRED and Stantec have both been clear that they have no real way of forcing any developer to adhere to any recommendations. And if that worries you then it should, because we have reason to believe that idea is closer to reality than anyone at RRED wants to admit on the record.
RRGU opposes this fully
We at RRGU do not oppose economic development, and a local distillery that would be locally-owned would be welcomed. A corporate facility would be frowned upon but swallowed like a bitter pill. And we would even go as far as to say locals would likely patronize a distillery from time to time, provided it has a nice atmosphere and fine spirits. Any plan for a facility including gambling or “gaming options” would absolutely not be tolerated.
A locally-owned distillery is already under construction in Slade. Building a new distillery on resort property would be in direct competition with this locally-owned option. A more creative attraction might better complement and enhance the area.
The Stantec plan proposes a “destination cafe,” a large high-end “destination restaurant,” and another large casual restaurant all contained within the resort core at the center of the 891-acre property in Slade, Ky.
We at RRGU are not opposed to more food service options being added in the area, but we would prefer for local businesses to be locally-owned and operated. Furthermore, we believe that a more sustainable model for the entire region would be to spread new cafés and restaurants across the four-county region (Lee, Menifee, Powell, and Menifee Counties) instead of concentrating them directly in Slade both with centralized ownership and in direct competition with existing businesses. Our primary worry from members of RRGU, local business owners, and from people throughout the community is that concentrating new businesses in this area may divert traffic away from other small restaurants which already exist in the area, causing them to fail.
We at RRGU would also prefer to maintain the atmosphere and spirit of a unique, personalized, and crafty village in the region and avoid mainstream-like city chains which channel a majority of tourist traffic to just one centralized location. Spreading traffic to many dispersed locations throughout the region helps to ensure the success of each business, but it also helps to mitigate vehicle vehicle traffic problems in addition to providing more opportunities for new and varied businesses to spring up in proximity to the new locations. Our region would benefit the most from many smaller businesses spread throughout the region as opposed to many larger establishments all concentrated in one location. Smaller businesses with smaller footprints are always preferred as it’s what our region was built around, and small businesses are what have supported the region for many years.
RRGU opposes this fully
10,000 square feet of meeting space to accommodate meetings, conferences, weddings, events, performances, celebrations, etc.
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
Full-service spa with multiple treatment rooms, hydrotherapy, and outdoor Scandinavian baths
This seems out of character with the region, but we can see locals will likely want to patronize such an service, and its impact is low.
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
From the Stantec report: Combination of indoor pool, state-of-the-art fitness center and holistic healing rooms for group seminars on yoga, meditation, tai-chi, etc.
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
From the Stantec report: Flexible outdoor space that interacts with the multi-purpose venue that would generate a diverse range of year-round visitors compelling longer stays and repeat visits
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
This is the kind of thing you would expect from nearly every higher-end hotel which builds itself around adventure, basically a service to help guests determine trips or adventures to take during their stay.
From the Stantec report: Outdoor adventure booking center located adjacent to the main resort hotel entry that acts as an “adventure concierge” for promoting and booking activities in the multi-county region.
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
It’s worth noting that many of the businesses referenced as potentially being able to utilize this Adventure Hub are actually owned by members of Red River Economic Holdings LLC (the group organized to hold an exclusive development option on the 900-acre potential resort site), more specifically landowner Ian Teal owns the Red River Gorge Ziplines, Underground Kayak Adventure, and Paddle Board.
This whole project is a haze of conflicts of interest, but the reduction of traffic in the Gorge from this project is a positive feature even if other aspects are not.
Basically a kids daycare with indoor and outdoor spaces to entertain children while adults take part in other activities.
From the Stantec report: Kids Camp (Day Care/Play Care) that allows kids time away from their families with participation in tailored outdoor adventure, exploration, arts & crafts, educational, and other fun activities. Must be booked in advance.
RRGU neither opposes nor supports this
– Updates and improvements to the wastewater treatment plant, paid for by local tax money.
– Updates and improvements to water delivery, paid for by local tax money.
– Degradation and destruction of existing roads, parking shoulders, and other public facilities – the repair of which will be paid for by local tax money.
We will only contact you with important reasons and timely information, and will never sell your data.