Well, anyone who paid attention to the White Water Center knew something like this would happen. Since, I'm representing CHF magazine, I have to refrain from writing my personal opinion. Search around the web for my other blogs and you may see what I think of WWC.

Whitewater Center adding parking fee

Income needed to pay loans

APRIL BETHEA

GARY O'BRIEN / Staff Photographer

The U.S. National Whitewater Center will soon charge a $5 per car fee to enter the park as a way to bring more money into the facility.

The center also plans to add a mega zip line in time for the Olympic trials in April, as well as offer more youth programs and types of rafting and flatwater boating, Executive Director Jeff Wise said Sunday.

The new efforts will help expand the number of programs offered by the center and raise money to help pay off $38 million in loans that went toward construction.

The 300-acre facility, located about 11 miles west of uptown Charlotte, opened in November 2006. It had about 600,000 visitors in its first year, about double what was anticipated.

The center had a $1.9 million profit in cash flow for the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, an audit said. "I'm very pleased that we had a net operating profit," Wise said. "There aren't too many businesses out there that can claim that."

But the center was unable to make three payments on loans used to build the center. Wise said the center made about $2 million in net capital, which made it difficult to meet those payments. That loan has been restructured.

Six governments -- the cities of Charlotte, Belmont, Gastonia and Mount Holly, and Gaston and Mecklenburg counties -- have pledged up to $12 million to cover potential shortfalls during the center's first seven years of operation. The center recently asked Mecklenburg County for $1 million.

Charging for parking or an admission/access fee was part of the agreement to restructure the debt payments.

Since opening, the whitewater center has charged visitors to raft, kayak or climb. But it offered free admission, parking, and use of hiking and bike trails.

The board of directors had considered charging new fees in the fall, Wise said, but worried about the costs keeping visitors away.

He said the new fee would start sometime within the next month.

In the meantime, the center also has hired a consultant to help secure a naming rights deal.

Some residents said Sunday they disagree with charging more money.

"Five dollars a car is highway robbery," said Jack Crouch, founder of Tarheel Trailblazers, which built the bike trails out there. "I'd say $2. It is not fair to riders of the city. That is incredible. I'll just quit riding there."

Russ Langley said he uses both the whitewater and bike trails. He goes to the center four or five times a week and worries a $5 fee will add up. But, he said, "if there's an annual pass to keep this park going, that's okay."