ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996            TAG: 9610160059
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER

PLANNING COMMISSION TO RULE ON ATHLETIC FIELD'S FATE

Salem's Planning Commission will decide tonight whether to recommend rezoning Oakey Field so the city can sell the land to the developers of a used-car dealership.

The roughly 6-acre tract of land between the Home Shopping Network and Longwood Park on East Main Street includes a softball field used by recreation leagues. Pee Wee soccer and football leagues also use part of the land for practice fields.

Municipal tennis courts adjoin the fields, but they are not included in the proposed sale.

Oakey Field was the city's center for recreation-league sports until much of the land was sold to the Home Shopping Network in 1987 for a parking lot next to its warehouse and distribution center.

Some of the money that Home Shopping Network paid for the Oakey Field land went to help fund the Moyer Sports Complex, a four-field megacenter built in 1991 for softball and other sports. Other money from the Home Shopping Network went to help fund the lighted soccer field in front of Salem High School.

With those fields plus others at the Salem Civic Center complex, city officials said, they felt there was a limited need for the remainder of Oakey Field. Not everyone agrees, however; City Manager Randy Smith said members of City Council have received calls from people who oppose the rezoning and sale because they don't want to lose the athletic fields.

Two businessmen, Paul A. Duncan of Christiansburg and Gary A. Duncan of Salem, approached city officials several months ago about buying the property. They wanted to build a high-inventory, no-haggle used-car dealership.

City Council members saw it as an opportunity to generate tax revenue. So they put the land out to bid in a newspaper ad.

The Duncans, who are related, were the only ones to submit a proposal to buy the property. They offered $345,521.

A proposal submitted by the Duncan partnership estimates the city could reap more than $400,000 in taxes and license fees during the first three years.

City Council also would have to approve any rezoning decision.

LENGTH: Short :   46 lines
ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC:  Chart by staff.