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Earthpark Board Tours Proposed Sites
KWWL-TV7, Waterloo
August 30, 2006
[Note: This material is copyright by KWWL-TV7, 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 KWWL-TV7.]
Earthpark board members have two possible locations in mind, Riverside and Pella. And for the first time, the Earthpark board members toured the two proposed sites as a group.
They visited Lake Red Rock, near Pella in the morning and spent the afternoon in Riverside.
Washington County developers want to see the $155 million indoor rainforest, aquarium and education center built on land -- just across the road from the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort.
Earthpark board members, including former governor Robert Ray, got a good look at how the facility would sit on the property. They also toured the casino and surrounding areas. Then board members sat down with development teams and city officials to discuss financial issues. The city of Riverside still needs to come up with about $5 million.
Earthpark Executive Director David Oman said, "We need to partner with one of these two communities to go to Vision Iowa. We're bringing Siemens along, other companies are coming along. So all the package needs to fit together in about the next month."
Project leaders say they're still about a month away from making a final decision on a location.