GRAYLING TOWNSHIP - After several years of rumors, a large multi-million-dollar theme park inched one step closer to coming to Grayling, bringing with it 2,000 jobs and an estimated payroll of $25 million. Grayling Township planning commissioners unanimously approved a concept plan for a $161-million, four-season theme park, essentially recommending the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) sell land to a Rochester-based group for the park.The 5-0 vote came at Tuesday night's meeting where Patrick Crosson of Axiom Entertainment presented a video and slide plan explaining the park's features. He answered questions from both planning commissioners and the audience whose applause followed the evening's proceedings, which lasted just over an hour.

"I think it's the best thing that's ever happened to the Crawford County area. If this project is not able to go (forward) I'll be disappointed," said county resident Linda Williams, who also serves as executive director of Crawford County United Way and is a local tour-related business owner. "It's something that's desperately needed here and it's needed in the entire Michigan economy. ... It'll provide jobs. I'm a person who takes phone calls every day from some of the people who don't have money for heat or rent."

Axiom has submitted a letter of intent to the DNR for purchase of approximately 2,200 acres of land located at I-75 and Four Mile Road and is in the process of securing the approval needed from area municipalities, like the planning commission, before the sale can be made final, said Crosson. He hoped to have the sale of the property finalized by next fall. If all things go as planned, Crosson said a June 2010 opening could be a reality for the park.

"We felt all the ingredients were here for a successful project," Crosson said after the meeting when asked why Grayling was selected. He explained a combination of available land, location and traffic, and the "true" transitions of the four seasons made the location attractive for the business venture.

During the presentation, Crosson laid out a basic concept of how the theme park - designed for year-round, four-season operation - would function. The park featured several attractions, from a water park and roller coasters in summer, to winter events such as snowmobile racing tracks and toboggan lifts. Other conceptual features of the park included a shopping district, educational and entertainment exhibits like an assembly-line roller coaster, an indoor surfing venue, 500-person competitive video game center and oval race track.

Economically, Crosson said the park would employ 700 full-time employees, but have a total workforce of about 2,000, depending on the season. The minimum wage at the park would be $8 per hour, with many of the jobs, like operating a theme-park ride, requiring a college degree and paying approximately $36,000, explained Crosson. He estimated the planned annual payroll to be $25 million.

Initially, Crosson expected the park would generate about $1.2 million dollars in real estate tax revenue, which could later grow into $6 million to $8 million annually.

When asked by planning commissioner James Cox if preference would be given to local applicants for employment, Crosson said he thought approximately 95 percent of the hires would come from a 75-mile radius of park.

Another feature of the park included Crosson's suggestions that the park would use several alternative energy sources including solar, wind and battery mixed with traditional sources like gas.

Crosson acknowledged that he would have to come before the planning commission on several instances if the project moves forward for specific zoning and site plan approval of certain components of the project.

Planning Commission chairman Curt Jansen echoed those sentiments after the meeting.

"A lot of details remain. It's just getting started on it. The property, land which we have as a land industrial development, has been sitting unused for eight years since we put the agreement together with the DNR. That's long enough to realize it'll probably not be developed into anything else, so give this guy a chance," said Jansen, who explained the commission was basically recommending the DNR sell the land.

Look for more details in Saturday's edition of the Herald Times.
http://www.gaylordheraldtimes.com/articles/2007/05/30/breaking_news/doc465d7a444fa83535338911.txt
By James Martinez, Staff writer Posted Wednesday, May 30, 2007 9:21 AM EDT