The Ark Encounter theme park is expected to be completed by 2014 if it can get funding. Gov. Steve Beshear says a for-profit business cannot be discriminated against because of subject matter.
FRANKFORT — A controversial Bible-themed amusement park received approval Thursday for up to $43 million in state tax incentives over a 10-year period.
The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority, which oversees tax credits for tourism and film-related projects, unanimously approved the tax credit for the Ark Encounter project, which is scheduled to break ground in August outside Williamstown in Grant County.
In addition to the tax rebate, the state may spend an estimated $11 million to improve an interchange off I-75 near the 800-acre site in Northern Kentucky.
The park has been criticized by late-night talk show hosts and those who say the state should not give tax breaks to a business that espouses a particular religious view. But Gov. Steve Beshear has defended the incentives, saying the state cannot deny the application on religious grounds. The park alone could generate as many as 600 to 700 new jobs, according to a consultant's report. That number doesn't include jobs created from construction or from new hotels or restaurants.
Rep. Darryl Owens, D-Louisville, has filed requests to the Tourism Arts and Heritage Cabinet about the Ark Encounter through the state's Open Records Act. Owens said Thursday that he has received some answers from the cabinet, but a May 2 letter in which he asked more questions about the origins of the project and how it was approved for incentives have not been answered.
"I am disappointed that this appears to have been fast-tracked and there just was not a lot of vetting," Owens said.
Ark Encounter, a for-profit biblical theme park, is planned to be built on an 800-acre site in Grant County. Artwork of the planned park shows the Tower of Babel at left, a first-century walled city in center, Noah's Ark at right, and an amphitheater at bottom center.