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Show .Businesses oppose .tourist stop plans RACHEL C. MURDOCH gaso'ne supply compa- of a fW! pPsing the construction tinn 1 d and retail gas Pera-J Pera-J p anned by the Utah County " Ms"1 at the Lindon rest coi"!631-Young, director of the afW j 1 these complaints have 1 f Planning for the rest stop, varin , nbutors complain about Cve7eCtStfthePlan'includ-Project Cve7eCtStfthePlan'includ-Project mvolvement the ith'LafSlutely not in keeping ft enterPrise system -with or" f government compete EBRBrUVa comPanies," said Max hpiyyov0sident of Maetex tv PrPsal, Utah sCt It helP fund the con" lease snnn r building. then would I EttES Cet0 Private business, ibouttv ?n is also concerned ' "Peonl tgalityofthe Proposal. llaStt i"VCSted millions if I-i5 a"he exits and en trances nvestJH T the reason tneY have ccesshS'y-t'salimited ltlouldn'tk ay- e government "said! 6 able to get on, either." ihSart nhi,n.ehart President of ,'ail,"It, o ln American Fork, ' 8 a waste of the taxpayer's money. We have fast food and facilities fa-cilities on all exits along I-15, so we don't need anything on the highway." high-way." Rhinehart said he thinks business busi-ness will be taken away from, rather than brought into the Utah "It's absolutely not in keeping with the free enterprise system -- having the government govern-ment compete with private companies." -Max Eggertsen County area. "I don't see how anyone could favorably support the idea," he said. Boyd Cobbley, presidentof Central Cen-tral Distributing in Spanish Fork, agreed. In a letter to the travel council, he said, "I fear you have just given the hurried traveler an excuse to purchase immediate needs and h urry on down the road." Young said the com plaints have hurt negotiations with the Department Depart-ment of Transportation over the tourist stop. "It definitely has created some problems with UDOT. They weren't necessarily excited about the idea in the first place, and now they are using these complaints to stop the whole project," he said. However, Young does not agree with the argumentthat thegovern-ment thegovern-ment shouldn't interfere in private enterprise. "Lake Powell, Bear Creek - all over there are examples of the government developing an area then leasing it to a private contractor. contrac-tor. That argument just doesn't hold," he said. UDOT already has plans to improve the rest area, and has bought the land for that purpose, Young said, so a compromise proposal pro-posal may be worked out. "The whole reason for the inclusion inclu-sion of retail operations was tohelp with funding," Young said. "Now that UDOT realizes we have an interest in it, there is a pretty good chance that we could get only a tourist center, if we could staff it. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the provided these funds, although we haven't talked about that with them yet" Whatever works out, Young said, the travel council will do all in its power to develop some kind of tourist information booth at the rest stop. "We aren't going to let this issue die," he said. "We'll push it with UDOT." None of the fast food interests See REST STOP on page 3 Rest Stop Vll. J A Si. -r- ,1 Ill, jjyuuuuuea irom tront page rjrlavehad any complaints, and sev-j'cl sev-j'cl have expressed interest in mgat the rest stop, Young said, said some national gasoline " :ns have also expressed inter-r:;. inter-r:;. although the council would Wertohave a local gasoline interest inter-est involved. ,(. Young said no one else has corned corn-ed about the proposal. I In fact, we've visited with all the local Chambers of Commerce, and have had a very favorable reaction," reac-tion," he said. Young said people who stop at the visitors' center would tend to remain in Utah County for a longer time, after they find out what there is to do. Not everyone agrees. "My thinking is exactly opposite," oppo-site," said Eggertsen. "You can't change people's plans once they've decided. JNow they just woman t stop in Utah County at all. American Ameri-can Fork, Lehi and all those towns will end up just like Nephi has after the freeway passed them by." Eggertsen said he thinks they must do all they can to prevent the retail establishments from being built. "We'll use every legal means to keep them from building that center," cen-ter," he said. |