Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 13, 1995 TAG: 9508140083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CULPEPER LENGTH: Medium
The future of the 3.1-mile Formula One track is clouded by the expiration last February of a use permit issued by Culpeper County, but supervisors have indicated a willingness to consider passing a law allowing an extension.
Players on both sides of the battlefield dispute view the expired permit as a technical glitch that is likely to be remedied by a rural county eager for the economic boost the project would bring.
Construction of the $15 million, 515-acre racetrack could begin this fall, said James Lazor, president of project developer Benton Ventures Inc. of Bethesda, Md.
``I'm grinning from ear to ear. There's no doubt about it now. There will be racing at Brandy Station,'' Lazor said.
Friday's corps action disappointed, but did not surprise, preservationists opposed to development of the Civil War battlefield. But they did not concede defeat.
``We will do what is necessary to prevent any bulldozers from going out onto that property,'' said Mike Green, a director of the Brandy Station Foundation.
Green argued that the corps failed to thoroughly assess the racetrack's impact on the site of the largest cavalry battle in U.S. history. More than 20,000 troops fought in the 1863 battle.
The corps was required to study the project's impact because the battlefield is considered eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
But the corps has limited authority to review the project, which would destroy less than an acre of wetlands, said Bruce Williams, a corps official.
Still pending in federal court is a lawsuit brought by two dozen owners of land near the racetrack site alleging that the project's noise, pollution and traffic would pose a nuisance.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB