ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605130058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ARLINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Questions about site safety and traffic will keep Arlington County from submitting plans for a baseball stadium by Wednesday's deadline, and Fairfax County officials say they want an extension, too.
Stafford County, which balked at using public money for the $150,000 fee to get considered for a stadium site, apparently has come up with the money, thanks to an anonymous donor.
As the deadline for submitting stadium plans and the fee to the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority draws closer, the three remaining contenders appear to be scrambling to finish their plans in time to be competitive.
``The bottom line is we have to do it right,'' said Supervisor Dana Kauffman in requesting the extension for Fairfax County.
``This it too important an issue to be rushed into. If this is a good idea today, it will still be a good idea tomorrow after more facts are in and our citizens have had a chance to assess the situation and have a say,'' Kauffman said.
In Arlington, three of the five county supervisors said there was no way the Board of Supervisors could answer all the questions about the proposed site by Wednesday's deadline.
``We simply have not been given the opportunity to fully address all of the issues,'' board chairman James B. Hunter III said at a public hearing. ``Therefore, I am not prepared to propose the Twin Bridges site to the stadium authority at this time.''
Stafford, which already has been offered free land on which to build a stadium, received a donation to cover the application fee.
``It's a private citizen,'' Stafford Supervisor Robert C. Gibbons said Thursday of the donor. It's ``somebody who's interested and believed in baseball all their life and wants to bring it to Stafford County.''
The proposed site off Interstate 95 was offered by Maryland developer Bradford S. Kline, making the county the only one with free land available. Supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to stay in the selection process.
Loudoun County dropped out of the running Wednesday.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB