ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
IT STILL COULD BE quite a while before anything actually happens about renovating Victory Stadium, though.
Saying an All America City deserves an All American stadium, Roanoke City Council on Monday rejected a city administration plan that could have indefinitely shelved a $12million to $14million stadium upgrade.
Instead, council told City Manager Bob Herbert to consider the feasibility of "fast-tracking" the stadium project so the stadium could be rebuilt and open in three to four years.
The action came after Herbert recommended adding the project to the city's Capital Improvement Program, a laundry list of desired projects totalling more than $150 million that has been growing for years.
At the earliest, it would be 2003 or 2004 before the stadium project could be completed if it were part of the CIP.
"Referring it to the CIP, I'll be 95 years old before that sucker gets done," complained Councilman Mac McCadden, council's most vocal proponent of the project.
"We go out and say, 'look at the projects we do,' and get our All America City award ... and yet we don't have a facility our kids can play in and call home. We need to take an active role on that facility," McCadden said.
Councilwoman Linda Wyatt said: "I think we owe the children of this city more than that right now. ... We were able to do the [Jefferson Center and Hotel Roanoke] without having to wait eight years to get started."
Monday's action doesn't necessarily mean it's full speed ahead on the stadium project. Instead, under Councilman Jack Parrott's motion, Public Works Director Bill Clark will report within 60 days on whether the project can be engineered so that it could be built over a three-year period.
The action did not address where the city would get the money for a speeded-up stadium project. At one point, Parrott suggested council simply appropriate it from the city budget over three or four years.
That notion clearly troubled Finance Director Jim Grisso.
"To spend $14 million on a stadium, I don't think, is financially reasonable at this time," Grisso said.
In January, council decided to further explore the possibility of raising the stadium's football field, installing a 400-meter track and a covered band shell, and reducing seating capacity to 15,000 after Atlanta-based consultants Heery International presented a range of options costing from $5 million for basic repairs to $22 million for a new stadium somewhere else.
Council clearly indicated that the 53-year-old, 26,000-seat stadium's future is a priority over other recreational and sports facilities.
Whether the renovations would pay off remains in doubt. Heery's most recent report suggests the stadium will run in the red even if taxpayers sink millions into it.
"A projected annual deficit of at least $25,000 is likely - using very optimistic assumptions on the revenue side and an expense estimate which has relatively little historic record at Victory Stadium," the report says. "Consequently, the city of Roanoke should be prepared for a larger annual operating deficit as it budgets for the facility."
The actual deficit is more likely to be $140,000, but that could be reduced with paid parking for 4,000 cars developed nearby - a scenario not envisioned in the $12million to 14million upgrade plan.
Among other things, the current plan would entail: Ripping out the first 17 rows of seats on each side of the stadium; removing the existing fountain and raising the playing field five feet to get it out of the flood plain; widening the field to allow for soccer; building an eight-lane, 400-meter track and an area for staging track and field events; building a band shell or covered stage for concerts; updating the lighting and adding a new press box; building new locker rooms and entry gates; and making the stadium accessible to the handicapped.
In other action Monday, council:
Approved a 20-year franchise with Roanoke Gas that would pay the city an estimated $41,200 annually, plus an additional 3 percent cost-of-living allowance compounded annually.
Passed resolutions honoring Councilwomen Elizabeth Bowles and Councilmen Mac McCadden and Wendell Butler, who are retiring from council.
Monday's meeting was their last before a new council takes office in July. Bowles has served continuously for 20 years, and McCadden has served 4 years. Butler, a former councilman, was appointed in January to a six-month term until a special election could be held to fill former Councilman John Edwards' seat.
Elected the three new councilmen - Jim Trout, Carroll Swain and Nelson Harris - to the board that controls Valley Metro, effective July 1.
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