Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 23, 1994 TAG: 9402230051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The Senate Finance Committee amended the House of Delegates' package of Disney incentives to match the Senate's version. The committee then sent the bills to the Senate floor for a possible vote this week.
The House likely will make the Senate package conform to the House bills. The differences will be worked out by a panel of three legislators from each chamber.
One of the key differences is whether the General Assembly will have to vote on the project again in a special session this spring, or in the 1995 regular session. The House adopted the re-enactment clause; the Senate did not.
Sen. Joseph Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax County, urged the Finance Committee to agree to the re-enactment provision. His amendment was rejected on a voice vote.
Gartlan said legislators need more time to examine conflicting studies on the economic impact of the proposed Disney's America historic theme park in Prince William County. He also said traffic and the prospect of urban sprawl have not be adequately addressed.
"These are issues that deserve careful attention . . . issues that go to the core of the responsibility of this legislature," Gartlan said.
"We've been stampeded by a schedule that was artificial and more highly pressured than it needed to be from the beginning," he said.
But Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, sponsor of the Senate bills on Disney, opposed the delay. "I think it places the whole project in jeopardy," he said.
Mary Anne Reynolds, spokeswoman for Disney's America, said the re-enactment clause would throw the project off schedule.
"It really does have a ripple effect through the process," Reynolds said in a telephone interview. "The county rezoning process cannot move ahead, our proffer negotiations with the county cannot move ahead, unless we know what the state's position is going to be."
After the bills were advanced, Sen. Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, chairman of the committee, urged the House to "not dillydally around until the closing week" of the session before acting on the Senate's Disney package.
Gov. George Allen originally proposed $163 million in highway improvements and other incentives for the park.
The Senate pared the highway bonds from $142 million to $125 million. The House favors $82 million in road bonds, with Disney putting up another $44.5 million. Using increased fuel taxes generated by the project, the state would repay Disney for its investment at $3.5 million a year.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB