Kentucky Kingdom threatens to drop plans for new roller coaster

Alfred Miller | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky Kingdom's Kentucky Flyer is new coaster in 2019 A new roller coaster called the Kentucky Flyer is coming to Kentucky Kingdom in 2019.

Kentucky Kingdom has been locked in a legal battle with the state Fair Board over parking.

The coaster is supposed to be the centerpiece of Kentucky Kingdom's 30th anniversary celebration.

The Fair Board meets again next week.

Kentucky Kingdom is threatening to nix plans for a new roller coaster if it can’t cut through “bureaucratic red tape” soon.

The theme park teased its sixth roller coaster in a video released late last month.

The 1,280-foot, airplane-themed Kentucky Flyer was slated to open in April pending approval from the state Fair Board from which Kentucky Kingdom leases its land.

Cody Patterson, a spokesman for the board, told the Courier Journal earlier this month that the board had approved the coaster conditional on state permission.

With its first $786,000 payment on the coaster due Monday and still no final approval, Kentucky Kingdom President and CEO Ed Hart released a statement Tuesday accusing the Fair Board of not being concerned about the success of its premier tenant. Kentucky Kingdom says it pays more than $1 million in rent and parking fees each year.

"At the end of the day, they told us to stop construction," Kentucky Kingdom spokesman Adam Birkner told the Courier Journal.

The Fair Board said in statement Tuesday that it has demonstrated a consistent desire to see Kentucky Kingdom succeed.

"There should be no surprises here as our lease with them has mutually agreed upon protocol for an orderly expansion, which is still in process and involves several landlord parties," Patterson said in a statement. "We seek to be responsible stewards of the Commonwealth’s assets and look forward to working with Kentucky Kingdom as that process continues."

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Further delay could force Kentucky Kingdom to cancel the coaster, which it planned as the centerpiece of its 30th anniversary celebration next year, Hart said in the statement.

He also accused the Fair Board of preventing the theme park from taking soil samples, an essential first step in installing any roller coaster and work that doesn't disturb the property, he said.

Kentucky Kingdom and the state Fair Board have been embroiled in a lawsuit over parking since this summer, with the theme park accusing the Fair Board of violating its lease by closing off parking lots during events and charging visitors a $10 entry fee to park during the state fair.

“These actions are a clear violation of our lease and certainly aren’t the way to treat a major tenant who pays over $1 million each year in rent — and is entitled to receive adequate access to parking in return for that rent,” Kentucky Kingdom said in its news release.

Ed Glasscock, a partner in the theme park and former chairman of law firm Frost Brown Todd, accused the Fair Board of obstruction and of acting in bad faith.

“The Fair Board cannot reasonably defend its violations of the lease with Kentucky Kingdom,” he said in the statement. “Instead, its objective is to pressure the park to drop its lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court in return for (the) Fair Board’s approval of the park’s expansion.”

Fellow partner Bruce Lunsford, an entrepreneur, CPA, lawyer and founder of the nursing home company Vencor, put it more bluntly. The Fair Board is reneging on its obligations and jeopardizing the park’s continued success, he said.

“The Commonwealth has so much to gain in additional fiscal revenue from direct, indirect, and induced expenditures by visitors who are here because Kentucky Kingdom is here,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this is a textbook example of bureaucratic red tape thwarting business that is good for Kentucky.”

The Fair Board meets again next Thursday, Oct. 25.

Reach reporter Alfred Miller at amiller@gannett.com or 502-582-7142. Follow him on Twitter @AlfredFMiller. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.