THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994                 TAG: 9407070472
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Virginia News 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: GAINESVILLE, VA.                   LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

OFFICIALS OK AMPHITHEATER NEAR MANASSAS THE 21,000-SEAT FACILITY OFF I-66 IS EXPECTED TO HAVE ABOUT 450,000 VISITORS A YEAR.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors has approved a concert producer's application to build a 21,000-seat amphitheater west of Manassas along Interstate 66.

The supervisors voted 5-1 Tuesday to approve two applications filed earlier this year by Alexandria-based Cellar Door Inc. to rezone 89 acres on an industrial site in western Prince William County.

Gainesville District supervisor Bobby McManus dissented. Chairwoman Kathleen Seefeldt and Dumfries District supervisor Maureen Caddigan were absent.

The $13 million Cellar Door Pavilion calls for an outdoor arena three times as large as Wolf Trap Farm Park near Reston. It would draw about 450,000 visitors a year after it opens in May 1995, Cellar Door officials said.

The $9 million amphitheater will feature country, rock and pop acts less staid than those that typically perform at Wolf Trap, said David Williams, Cellar Door's chief operating officer. Cellar Door predicts activity on 45 nights between May and October.

Neabsco District supervisor John Jenkins said the amphitheater project represented the kind of ``clean development'' the county has worked to attract.

Before the vote, however, the board heard opponents testify that traffic generated by the facility will overwhelm local roads. Critics warned that the Disney's America project near Haymarket and a proposed horse racing track were the makings of a traffic disaster.

Joe Mehra, president of the McLean-based transportation consulting firm MCV Associates, contested a traffic impact study prepared for Cellar Door by VETTRA Co. Mehra said the VETTRA study underestimates traffic demand to the amphitheater by up to 43 percent.

``It will take three to four hours to enter or exit the site,'' Mehta said.

Cellar Door attorney John Foote dismissed the reports about traffic problems, saying they were offered to create confusion and delay.

The company has agreed to provide land for widening a road that runs past the amphitheater, and to pay for police to direct traffic on concert nights, Foote said. by CNB