By Jane Smith
05/03/06
May 03, 2006 10:49 am
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The on-again, off-again opening of Conneaut Lake Park appears to be on again.
Twenty-eight hours after park officials laid off 30 employees Monday and announced the park would close unless $250,000 was received by Friday, the news had changed.
The park is expected to come to terms today with a new lender willing to provide the money it needs to open for the season. A similar arrangement collapsed Monday, leading officials to lay off the employees and set a Friday deadline for a final decision on the opening.
“It looks very promising to the point we have recalled all our employees back to work and will continue preparations for opening,” court-appointed park overseer LeRoy Stearns said Tuesday.
Stearns said he will seek an expedited court hearing to ask Crawford County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Vardaro for approval of the loan terms.
Since the amusement park was declared a charitable trust, the court has to approve all loans.
Stearns asked the court last week to approve the concept of selling 3.3 acres of land at the park to generate enough money to pay off the park’s $1.9 million debt and give it the $250,000 it needs to open.
He said plans for the sale will proceed. The only contingency for the loan is that it and all other outstanding loans be repaid with the sale of the property.
Stearns said all events scheduled at the park will go as planned, except for this weekend’s volunteer cleanup event. Since two days of work were lost (Monday and Tuesday), some other preparation work must be done before volunteers can be called to work.
Stearns expects the cleanup will be rescheduled before Memorial Day weekend — the park’s traditional opening.
“It’s great for us as long as we can get in there and get stuff operating. It will be great,” said park maintenance worker Jerry Smith. “We are playing our rollercoaster.”
The past week has been quite a rollercoaster for the park. Last week it won approval from Vardaro to begin planning the land sale park officials believed would secure a $250,000 loan to open. Everyone went into the weekend believing everything was OK. Then came Monday’s dramatic setback as the loan deal dissolved and Tuesday’s reversal as new loan deal emerged.
Now everyone is holding their breath and waiting for the judge’s approval.
The 114-year-old amusement park has been closed for only one season, in 1995 after a local group that owned the park declared bankruptcy. The next year Gary Harris purchased the park and reopened it, operating it for the 1996 and 1997 season before turning it over to the Trustees of Conneaut Lake Park in trust for the people of northwestern Pennsylvania.
The park fell under court management when its original board dwindled to one member. Membership fell when one board member sued the rest over an agreement they made with Harris.
Since that time, however, the park has been declared a charitable trust.
Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com
Park’s water system needs work in order to meet new safety standards.
Conneaut Lake Park officials are working to bring its water system into compliance with new safety standards.
The arsenic level in the park’s water is three times higher than the new federal standards that took effect Jan. 23.
The acceptable level is .010 milligrams per liter, or 10 parts per billion.
The previous standard was .050 mg/L, or 50 parts per billion, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
George Deshner, general manager of Conneaut Lake Park, said tests show the park’s level is the same as it always has been — .031 mg/L. He received a letter last week to notify his customers within 60 days. The park’s water system serves buildings in the park and nearly 135 neighboring homes.
“The level has not gone up,” he said. “It has not changed. It continues as the same level as always. It is not life-threatening.”
However, the regulations require the park and anyone operating a water system to notify customers of the level.
In addition, those with problems must bring their operations into compliance.
The DEP encouraged those with systems to apply for grants and other programs to offset the costs of installing treatment, and the park has done that.
Some studies have linked long-term exposure to high levels of arsenic in drinking water to cancer of the bladder and lungs. Short-term exposure to high doses of arsenic can cause other adverse health effects, but they’re unlikely to occur from water supplies that are in compliance with the previous arsenic standard of .050 mg/L, according to the DEP.
Arsenic occurs naturally in rocks and soil, water, air, plants and animals. It can be released through the environment through natural activities, such as volcanic action, erosion of rocks and forest fires, or through human activities.
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Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at jsmith@meadvilletribune.com
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