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Earthpark doesn't belong in Pella - or Iowa

Editorial

The Daily Iowan

October 3, 2006

[Note: This material is copyright by The Daily Iowan, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of The Daily Iowan.]

The Earthpark saga (better known to most as the rain-forest debacle) reached its climax last week with the announcement that Pella had been selected as the location for the project. This Editorial Board has often expressed displeasure with the venture, and, sadly, the project's backers have given us reason and opportunity to criticize their moves once again. In choosing Pella as the location for the site, as opposed to Riverside, Earthpark's Board of Directors all but guaranteed the worst possible scenario for an already dismal situation.

From the initial stages of the project, it has been continually mocked and derided, with good reason. The $50 million Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, procured from Congress remains an embarrassing display of pork-barrel politics.

Original estimates placed the necessary number of visitors at close to 1 million to ensure solvency. Pella simply is not a suitable locale to attract this many people. The town's annual Tulip Time certainly draws large crowds, but 1 million is a huge number to entice to a town of barely 10,000 people. Riverside, on the other hand, would seem a better fit. Last month, a new resort and casino opened, exponentially increasing the visibility of the future home of Captain James T. Kirk. If nearby gambling isn't enough to draw huge crowds to Earthpark, a tulip festival, no matter how big, certainly cannot.

Pella is set to break ground on the project next year and hopes to finish the project by 2010. This Editorial Board is desperately praying for a new wrench to be thrown in the project.

Earthpark is slated to bring 500 construction jobs to the area over the next three years, in addition to 150 permanent jobs. But certainly, wiser economic-development projects are available. Even ethanol plants seem a wiser idea than Earthpark.

The pseudo-rain forest that is to be Earthpark is largely based on the Eden Project, a similar environmental facility located in England. The architect for the Eden Project, Andrew Whalley, is also designing Earthpark. But the similarities between the two end there. The Eden Project is located in St. Austell, Cornwall, in southwestern England. The population density for the region is nearly nine times that of Iowa as a whole, and the facility fits with many other tourist attractions nearby. Pella simply cannot compare.

Certainly, there are an infinite number of ways the funds could be better spent. Yet the project appears to be moving forward, at long last. Sadly, Earthpark's Board of Directors have settled on the worst possible location.