Project E-mail Not So 'Heat of the Moment'; Rain Forest Leader Approved Scolding

Adam Pracht and Brian Sharp

Iowa City Press-Citizen

December 3, 2004

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CORALVILLE -- Initially, it was described as a "heat of the moment" rant by the founder of a proposed $180 million rain forest project.

But a draft of a strongly worded e-mail that scolded City Administrator Kelly Hayworth and other top city officials this fall was signed off on a day earlier by project chief administrator David Oman.

While officials say the conflict has long since been resolved, records released by the city Thursday in response to a Press-Citizen records request show Oman shared founder Ted Townsend's sentiment at the time. Oman discussed strategy and a plan to focus on Mayor Jim Fausett because he said Hayworth, after overcoming legal snags to redevelopment plans, appeared to have soured on the project.

"This is excellent," Oman wrote in the Sept. 12 e-mail response to Townsend, inadvertently copied to Fausett, "am comfortable w/ 95% of it. Key is to lift city back to the greater goal. Kelly has been sued and beaten up. He's clearly gone south on us the past few months and needs this reminder."

Later e-mails describe a positive relationship and provide more insight to fund-raising, listing John Deere as a potential partner and federal programs that could bolster the project's stature and finances. A Dec. 21 board meeting in Coralville, to involve some 18 project directors, is expected to cover these and other issues.

Hayworth disputes that he ever doubted the project and says Townsend's resulting Sept. 13 e-mail was an overreaction.

Townsend, spurred by diverging views about a district energy plan, said city officials were too focused on a proposed Marriott hotel and conference center adjacent to the Environmental Project and were "selling short the goose that will lay enormous golden eggs."

The Environmental Project, proposed for 30 acres southeast of Interstate 80 and First Avenue, would include a 4.5-acre rain forest under a translucent caterpillar-shaped structure that would rise 18 stories. Also included is a 1.2 million-gallon aquarium along with research and teaching space.

Project leaders have said they will create 500 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs with a "ripple effect" of 2,500 jobs statewide. They expect to attract up to 1.5 million annual visitors and pull in $187 million a year.

Hayworth has said disagreement about a district energy plan to provide heating and cooling to the rain forest project, the Marriott and an intermodal center triggered Townsend's e-mail. At the time of the e-mail, he said, the city was planning to move ahead with providing on-site energy to the hotel to meet a December construction deadline.

Townsend was concerned the Marriott no longer would be interested in a district plan if its needs were already taken care of, Hayworth said. That would take out a major player in the project, he said, and possibly put an end to a district plan to provide the energy needs for all three projects.

Project Vice President Nancy Quellhorst had said Townsend reacted "in the heat of the moment." She reiterated that comment Thursday, adding "the heat of the moment might have last more than 5 minutes; it was pent up frustration over a difficult situation."

The conflict dissolved after the two sides talked and consultants told the city it is possible to integrate hotel boilers into a district plan.

Oman said the conflict was "a relatively small issue" and disagreement among business partners is common. In his e-mail, he called hotel designs "dowdy" but said Thursday that frustration clouded his remarks and that the plans were "spectacular." He described the current relationship as "the best it's ever been" and -- despite writing Townsend that "the move to another city card is our ace in the hole" -- project officials have never wavered in their intention to build in Coralville.

"It was, is, and continues to be a very viable project," Hayworth said Thursday, adding later: "I think it's going to be very difficult, but I don't think that's really changed my opinion."

So far, the project has received commitments of $10 million from Townsend, $50 million from a federal Department of Energy grant, $20 million from Coralville in land and infrastructure and $10 million from an energy deal related to the district plan. Nearly four years after being pitched for Coralville, $90 million still is needed. Oman's mention of John Deere as a potential partner, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, adds to General Electric, Ford and Hewlett Packard listed in Townsend's earlier e-mail.

Oman declined to discuss fund-raising Thursday and downplayed his e-mail mentions of an application to the state Vision Iowa grant program. He said officials are beginning to put something together but it's too early to talk timeframes and dollar amounts.

He wrote in a Sept. 20 e-mail that a commitment from the Board of Supervisors is "HUGE" to any application. Board chairman Terrence Neuzil, a member of the project's citizen advisory panel, said he would support a financial commitment but project officials have yet to make any request.