Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9411010005
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Arnold Stansley of Toledo, Ohio, won the track license over four other applicants, including Middleburg businessman James J. Wilson. Stansley plans to build a track on 345 acres donated by Chesapeake Corp., a Richmond-based Fortune 500 paper company.
``It was a political decision, and Chesapeake Corp. has a lot of political clout,'' Wilson said Thursday. ``But whether it serves the horse industry is clearly a question.''
Peter Johns, special projects manager for Chesapeake Corp. subsidiary Delmarva Properties Inc., said: ``We did not play politics. That was probably the weakest aspect of our application.'' Johns is the company executive in charge of developing the property.
Wilson, who proposed building a track in Prince William County, said a Northern Virginia track would better serve the horse industry, which is based in the region. State law says the commission's decision must be one that helps promote the industry.
Two commissioners expressed a preference for a Northern Virginia site, although one voted for the New Kent site and the other abstained.
The commission said in a 32-page document explaining its decision that a Virginia-Maryland racing circuit proposed by Stansley ``presents the best opportunity for Virginia's racing industry to promote, sustain and grow a native horse industry.''
Other losing applicants have said they will not challenge the commission's decision. The president of Churchill Downs, which wanted to build a track in Virginia Beach, said that while he was ``nonplussed'' by the decision, he did not believe it was politically driven.
``It was truly an apolitical process,'' Thomas Meeker said. ``I don't think anyone unduly influenced the commission. ... I've not gotten the sense that there was any political arm-twisting in this.''
The losers have 30 days to appeal in Richmond Circuit Court.
``It's likely that we will be appealing as soon as possible,'' Wilson said.
Stansley, who owns Raceway Park in Toledo and is a partner in Trinity Meadows in Fort Worth, Texas, said he hoped Wilson would reconsider.
``I'm just hoping that he doesn't do it, for the good of the state ... so we can carry on and have racing very soon in the state of Virginia,'' Stansley said.
The commission Wednesday voted 4-0, with one abstention, to let Stansley build and operate a $40 million track in rural New Kent County. The track will be located near the intersection of Interstate 64 and Virginia 155.
Chesapeake Corp. has proposed a residential and commercial development that would be anchored by the track.
Keywords:
HORSE RACING
by CNB