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By Linda Blackford
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A group that opposes proposed development near the Red River Gorge has stepped up its fight, starting a fundraising campaign to hire lawyers to stop the project.
Red River Gorge United was formed several years ago after a group of Eastern Kentucky businessmen and others formed a nonprofit to explore development in the Gorge area. The project turned into a resort on 800 acres near the Slade bypass, which would hold a 180-room lodge, a spa, a distillery and possible sites for private homes.
“We fully oppose the Slade resort as it is currently conceived not only because of its scale and scope but because it risks turning this incredible resource into the next Gatlinburg by attracting other developments that are simply out of character with the area,” said Kristen Wiley, a Slade resident and RRGU board president.
Wiley also said that local businesses are struggling to find workers, so it’s not clear what the new jobs would do for the area.
Red River Economic Development, which is still seeking a developer, said in a statement that it has always welcomed input from stakeholders. They held an option on the land, then turned it over to the Red River Property Holding Group, which bought the land.
“There is a lot of support for a nature-oriented destination resort in Powell County, and RRED will continue to work for a high-quality resort that will create hundreds of jobs for the local community and eastern Kentucky and generate millions of dollars in the regional economy,” the statement said.
RRED LLC was formed through the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and several Eastern Kentucky moneymen. The process — made longer by COVID — has included a master plan, drawings, conceptions and dreams, but no developer yet willing to make it real.
Last year, founding members Charles Beach III, CEO of People’s Exchange Bank in Winchester and Elmer Whitaker, CEO of Whitaker Bank stepped down after we asked questions about their personal investment in the project, helping to put up part of $2.25 million to buy the property from businessman Ian Teal as part of the Red River Gorge Property Holding Group.
That certainly did not help the opposition’s concerns about the project. Although the land was privately held and the project will be privately developed, a big master plan that got it started was funded with $1 million in state and federal grants.
Three other members of the RRED board — entrepreneur Jim Host, Central Bank CEO Luther Deaton and Community Trust Bank CEO Jean Hale stated they had not invested in the project.
RRGU says its stance has hardened against the project because of “its size, the lack of due diligence, its impact on aging critical infrastructure, erosion of small-town character, degradation of natural resources, increased safety concerns, and other negative fallout resulting from over-trafficking by inexperienced visitors.”
I’m not sure what danger “inexperienced visitors” bring. Is the Gorge a club now that only “experienced visitors” get to enjoy? Do you have to have a card stamped at Miguel’s or something? Apparently the answer is yes; Wiley said RRGU’s fundraising will focus on the “international community of rock climbers, backpackers, campers, and many others, who value Red River Gorge’s unique ecological resources.”
That’s the kind of cliquishness that leads people to wonder if this opposition is from a majority of people who live in Powell and Wolfe Counties, or if it’s a small subsection of climbers and hikers who have adopted the area. It would also be useful to get more feedback from people who are from the region and continue to make their homes there about what they think would be best.
But all in all, it’s good to have a group that’s willing to fight to make sure that anything built close to one of Kentucky’s most precious natural areas is doing it the right way. The nature of private development means that only local government officials will have any sway over environmental concerns, and those officials need to have constant oversight.
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