Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration has ordered private developers not to talk about plans for a huge new resort near Pinckneyville until Blagojevich himself can announce it, sources say.

Some lawmakers who support the project say that public relations directive could be endangering the proposal.

“People have asked, ‘If these (developers) are credible, why don’t they answer the phone?’” said state Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. He is among several lawmakers who say they learned late last week of the administration’s gag order, and now are pressing to have it lifted.

The Toney Watkins Co., a Glen Carbon-based investment group, wants to construct a Branson-like, 5,000-acre resort near Pinckneyville, possibly under a controversial land swap arrangement with the state. That controversy has been heightened in the past week by the dead silence of the company and its lobbyists, to the point of failing to even answer reporters’ phone calls.

Several legislators and company officials confirmed Friday the reason for the silence is a directive from Blagojevich’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has been involved in talks on the project and could potentially offer financing or other assistance for it.

Belleville consultant Geri Boyer, who is working with the developers, said the gag order was contained in a letter from the agency. “It says we are not allowed to talk with the press until the governor announces the project,” Boyer told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

She didn’t specify what the letter referred to, and said she couldn’t provide more details because of the agency’s confidentiality directive. She said she and others are pressing the agency to allow the developers to say more. “We really would like to talk with you,” she said.

Chicago attorney Walter R. Dale, general counsel and vice president for the Toney Watkins Co., also confirmed on Friday the existence of the letter, though he said he couldn’t detail its contents because it wasn’t in front of him. He said the company’s public silence has been partly because “we’re trying to get a clear reading on what we’re allowed to discuss” as laid out in the letter.

A spokesman for the economic development agency initially denied on Friday that the agency has told developers not to discuss the project. When pressed specifically about the letter that Boyer and Dale said the developers received from the agency, the spokesman would neither confirm nor deny its existence.

“I’m not sure what letter she’s referring to,” said the spokesman, Andrew Ross. “We’re aware of the project, but that’s for the developers to talk about.”

He declined to comment further.

Lawmakers who have been talking to developers for more than a year about the proposal said they learned of the gag order during a closed meeting with the developers’ representatives on Thursday. It came to light after legislators asked the developers why media reports kept highlighting the lack of available information about the company and its plans.

“One of the things we jumped on them about was, ‘Why haven’t you answered your phones?’ They said (the administration) said, ‘Don’t discuss this,’” Luechtefeld said.

“We were upset about that. It looks suspicious when you can’t get anyone to pick up the phone,” Luechtefeld said. “… This (proposal) is something that can fall apart in a hurry. People who invest in this … if there’s any doubt in their minds, they just go somewhere else.”

Luechtefeld and state Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, another participant in the meeting, said there are concerns that the gag order has complicated an already-difficult quest to get the project started.

“I wish they would have told me this earlier, so I would have had an answer for people who asked why (the developers) weren’t returning calls,” said Reitz. Like other lawmakers from the area, he views the resort proposal as a potential economic boon for the depressed Southern Illinois region. “They need to start telling people what this is about.”‘

What has been revealed is that the developers envision a $100 million recreational theme-park tourism destination -including music entertainment venues, golf courses, a BMX bike-racing facility and other amenities -near Pinckneyville, a town of about 5,400 people 70 miles southeast of St. Louis. Developers ultimately hope to have 5,000 acres of land under the project.

It’s difficult to find an undeveloped piece of land that size (it’s more than 10 times the entire acreage of Six Flags amusement park). Among the proposals the developers have brought to lawmakers is for the state to provide 2,000 acres of land from the north side of nearby Pyramid State Recreation Area, in exchange for the same amount of land currently under private ownership, with an option for another 3,000-acre trade later.

The 20,000-acre state park in Perry County is Illinois’ largest, and environmentalists have raised concerns about turning over any of it for private development. Legislation is pending in Springfield to allow the land-swap, but Reitz and other supporters of the project view that as a last resort, and are pegging their hopes instead on talks between the developers and private landowners in the area.

Pinckneyville sits in Illinois’ economically devastated coal-mining region, and local and state officials have tried for years to come up with ideas to provide investment and jobs to the area. Lawmakers in the past week have said the resort proposal could potentially create 2,500 jobs.

But media attempts to talk to the developers themselves have been mostly fruitless. Dale, the company’s executive vice-president, said that’s partly because key company officials have been out of town lately and were caught off-guard by the controversy that arose when talk of the land-swap spread through the Legislature last week. He also noted the administration’s letter requesting confidentiality.

Dale said details that have been reported about the company’s plans so far are accurate, but he declined to offer further detail yet.

Debate over the issue is likely to resume when lawmakers return Tuesday to Springfield.

information from : pantagraph.com

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 4:16 am and is filed under Real Estate, Resort. Tags: Agra Branson Chicago Dale Department of Commerce development Economic Development Agency Illinois Investment group media reports Perry County private developer private developers public relations Pyramid Reading REIT Resort Rod Blagojevich Springfield St. Louis Tourism . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.