ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 19, 1996 TAG: 9607190058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: Associated Press
Michel Regignano envisions a major league ballpark on the grassy plateau atop Fairfax County's mountainous dump, with a ski lift taking fans to the park.
Courtney Mains is such a baseball fan who'd welcome the stadium - right next to his Falls Church apartment building. ``The pool area might make a nice bullpen,'' he said. ``There is a lake nearby you could drain and, once leveled out, it would make a nice field. And across the street is a swamp where you could park the cars.''
It may not turn out to be the winning site, but the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority welcomes the suggestions, along with whatever else Regignano, Mains or anyone else might come up with.
After its failure this summer to find a stadium site, the authority has dropped its $150,000 nomination fee and the complicated application process. This time the authority is asking merely for ideas, which it will accept for free until a Monday deadline.
``Anything anybody believes is worth considering, bring it to our attention,'' s how many. Frey said he expects to have about 20 by Monday.
``Even if we only get three or four, that is three or four more than we had on the table before,'' said Frey, also a Fairfax supervisor.
The rules for nominating are few: People don't have to own the land to suggest it; sites should be 25 to 35 acres and have room nearby to park as many as 17,000 cars.
Interviews by The Washington Post this week with residents in Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria yielded a wide array of suggestions, some serious, others less so, such as the dump off West Ox Road in Fairfax.
Most people surveyed said they would put a ballpark on the outskirts of northern Virginia's suburbs in Loudoun or Prince William, where there is more undeveloped land and less traffic.
``Go out to Loudoun. There are just acres and acres of open land along the Greenway, and it is just beautiful country,'' said Martin Smith, 46, of Reston. ``That is the ideal location.''
Brian Silverstein of Fairfax suggested the Lorton prison complex in southern Fairfax. Alongside the prisons are hundreds of acres of open land.
``Three strikes and you are out would really mean something,'' said Silverstein, 17.
Authority members, who reserve the right to consider sites in addition to those suggested by others, expect to look at locations rejected by county officials in the first search, including several near Dulles International Airport and National Airport in Arlington.
To suggest a site, send your name, a description of the site including size and location, the name of its owner and its zoning. Mail it to the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, P.O. Box 9346, McLean, Va. 22102.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB