THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100231
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
The Interior Department, stepping into the debate over a proposed Disney theme park near Haymarket, has warned Prince William County that any development plan that counts on widening roads through nearby Manassas National Battlefield Park is ``unacceptable.''
But in a letter to county officials outlining its position, the federal agency that oversees the park also appeared to push for a compromise between preservationists and the Walt Disney Co. over the $650 million project.
Interior officials focused their criticism on the county, not Disney, and said that the ``likely presence of Disney's America'' could spur ``a livable, vibrant community located between Disney's America on the west and Manassas National Battlefield on the east.''
Such a compromise, the letter hinted, might be reached if Disney were to support Interior's effort to close the battlefield roads, rather than enlarge them as county officials want to do.
For years, Interior officials have wanted to close the two heavily traveled highways that bisect the battlefield and carry thousands of Northern Virginia commuters daily.
In the six-page letter the county received Friday, Interior Assistant Secretary George T. Frampton Jr. and National Park Service Director Roger G. Kennedy noted that Prince William's plan to handle traffic generated by a Disney park assumes that one road, U.S. Route 29, would be widened from two to four lanes.
That could relieve choked roads around the Disney site four miles west of the battlefield, but would cause ``severe, irrevocable and unacceptable'' impacts on a ``national treasure,'' the federal officials said.
``This is sacred ground, honored by the blood of American heroes'' in two Civil War battles, which already faces dangerous and distracting traffic problems, Frampton and Kennedy said in the letter to Planning Commission Chairman Gregory Gorgone.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to vote today on Disney's rezoning application, in a prelude to an October vote by the Board of County Supervisors. Interior officials warned that if Prince William does not protect the battlefield, the department will ``review its options,'' including legal and regulatory action.
One step could be tougher involvement in a federal environmental review now under way for $130 million of Disney-related projects on Interstate 66. by CNB