Few tears fall in Milford for Mountain Laurel Center
MILFORD Local resort owners and county officials this week expressed satisfaction that $1 million lost to Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts will be put to better use promoting Pocono tourism in general. Out loud, some even questioned the value of the floundering $35 million center. Anthony Filone, proprietor of Mountain Haven Resort, rhetorically asked if the Mountain Laurel and the subsidy “did anything to help our business? No! It’s a total loss.” Funding for Mountain Laurel was eliminated earlier this month by the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau, which controls allocation of the approximately $4.5 million annually in bed tax revenue. Richard A. Caridi, chairman of the Pike County Commissioners, this week said elimination of Mountain Laurel funding will mean that ultimately “there will be more money for all four counties to promote tourism with a broad-based, comprehensive marketing plan.” When the contract between Pike and the PMVB comes up for renewal, the Room Tax Grant Advisory Board, “will be asking for more money for our tourism,” he added. Sean Strub, an owner of the Hotel Fauchere, said, “I support the Pocono Mountains Visitor’s Bureau’s decision to terminate the agreement with Mountain Laurel, and I think it bodes well for a more constructive relationship between the PMVB and the tourism industry in Pike County. “Their new director, Carl Wilgus, made it clear he just did not see the benefit from all the money spent to subsidize Mountain Laurel.” As of this week, Mountain Laurel has no director, no posted summer schedule, and it must make do without the bed tax subsidy that amounted to about one third of its total income in 2006, according the its federal tax reports. Asked about the future of Mountain Laurel, arts center board member Ginny Kirkwood replied this week, “I have no tonic. The board will meet soon. There are few alternatives.” John Wolfington, president and CEO of The Wolfington Companies bought out the $17 million Pike County Industrial Development bonds used to help build the arts center. The Wolfington Companies purchased the adjacent Tamiment resort in March, 2005. It merged the two and refinanced the Mountain Laurel and Tamiment combination for $97 million. But Caridi, who sits on the Pike County Planning and Conservation Boards, said the proposed Wolfington Development, Highland Village, shows “no sign of any activity.” Commenting further on the latest developments, Strub said: “I am looking forward to learning more about new initiatives [PMVB] intend to undertake. The big question comes a year from now, when the Pike County Commissioners renegotiate their agreement with the PMVB over the split of Room Tax funds. “... In terms of other needs, we urgently need wayfinding signage for visitors, we need displays about Pike County’s attractions in the Welcome Centers in Matamoras, at Lake Wallenpaupack and at the Bushkill entrance to the National Park. We need a visitors center in Milford. “We need promotion of Pike County as a destination, focusing on heritage and ecotourism as well as the resort niche. There are many needs, but I am hopeful that between the PMVB, the Room Tax Grant Advisory Board and the Pike County Visitors Bureau, we will see some excellent progress this year.”