Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 10, 1994 TAG: 9403100074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium
The site tours included showcase vacation and historic areas of Hampton Roads. But the commissioners mostly were interested in seeing a low-income housing complex where Portsmouth wants to put a track, and a family farm that is Virginia Beach's proposed site.
The five-member panel is expected to grant a license to one of six track applicants in late summer or early fall.
"There's an excitement in the city about the prospect of this track that I don't think you'll find anywhere else," state Sen. Frederick Quayle, R-Chesapeake, said at a public hearing on the Portsmouth site.
"At no time have I seen so many citizens come together for the betterment of a community," added former Portsmouth Mayor James Holley III. "The public support for this track is unparalleled."
But there were a few sour notes.
Portsmouth resident James Brown said horse racing, compared with other forms of gambling, is falling out of favor with the public. He said a track could become "a white elephant" if it fails and taxpayers get stuck paying back construction bonds.
"I don't want to be saddled in the future with debt if this thing goes down," said Rick Stephenson, another track opponent.
The applicant for the Portsmouth track is Virginia Racing Associates, a partnership headed by former state Sen. Elmon Gray and horse breeder William Camp Jr.
The Virginia Beach applicant is Churchill Downs, the Louisville-based operator of the Kentucky Derby.
Officials of each city contend their applicant has the better plan, their site would draw more visitors and their track would add more jobs and revenue to the region's economy.
But the resort city's proposed 245-acre farm site has been criticized because it has wells instead of city water and because of potential noise problems at nearby Oceana Naval Air Station.
The 266-acre Portsmouth site has come under fire because several hundred families who live there would have to move. The city has pledged financial aid to help those residents, and no one from the neighborhood showed up at the Portsmouth hearing to oppose the project.
"We interpret the race track meaning more jobs," said Joseph Wright, who heads a civic group in the neighborhood adjacent to the Portsmouth site. "More jobs means less crime. Less crime means a happy city."
Next week, the commission will visit proposed track sites in Loudoun and Prince William counties in Northern Virginia and in New Kent County near Richmond.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB