THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160458
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Developers put the brakes on stock car racing in South Hampton Roads on Tuesday.
The NASCAR race-track proposal temporarily stalled when proponents of the plan withdrew a zoning request for an adjacent industrial park that is considered essential to any racing operation.
The Planning Commission deferred ruling on the track until next month, when the industrial park plans are to be resubmitted.
Planning officials say that the race-track proposal is contingent on the 684-acre industrial park and that the track would serve as a draw to the facility.
Langley Raceway promoter Joe Baldacci Jr. announced in July that he intended to bring NASCAR-sanctioned racing to South Hampton Roads.
Baldacci, who also promotes weekly races at Southside Speedway in Richmond, said he would move his operation from Langley to Suffolk for the 1995 season if the city approved his plans.
Tuesday was the first time a detailed proposal was revealed.
The half-mile oval track would be off Nansemond Parkway across from the intersection with Shoulders Hill Road, about a mile from Interstate 664. Seating capacity would be 7,581.
Langley Raceway, which has been the only NASCAR-certified racing site in Hampton Roads since the early 1960s, draws about 5,000 fans per weekend. Suffolk officials have said a facility in their city could draw 10,000 to 12,000 fans a week. Recent surveys indicate that half of Langley's audience is from South Hampton Roads.
Langley has five stock car divisions that run every weekend. The proposed race track in Suffolk is expected to have the same Saturday and Sunday schedule.
Upton and Arnette Associates, which is to develop the track and the industrial park, had requested a zoning change in land for the industrial park from residential and agricultural to general business and heavy manufacturing. It has also asked for a conditional use permit to operate the race track.
Company officials could not be reached to comment on why they withdrew their rezoning request.
The race track's appearance on the Planning Commission's agenda Tuesday upset many, including neighbors of the proposed site.
Some protested that the commission wasn't considering how the track would affect two nearby elementary schools. Others said they suspected the plans were being rushed through the commission to avoid opposition.
Lou Heffington, 36, said she was notified about the meeting one week ago. ``We will be back in December,'' she told the commission.
Beverly S. Outlaw, who has lived less than a quarter-mile from the proposed site for about 30 years, asked the commission for more information and more time to study the track proposal.
But some members of the Planning Commission argued that killing the race track isn't going to help bring more amenities to Suffolk residents.
``We have to realize that many of the benefits that city residents enjoy come from industrial development,'' Commissioner Charles T. Shotton said.
None of the plan's sponsors appeared at the meeting.
Ted Lemmon, owner of a local oil company, was the only speaker to endorse the plan.
``All my life,'' he said, ``I've had to go east to do something like this.''
According to a staff report on the proposed track, the Suffolk Police Department opposes the use permit because current roads cannot handle the volume of traffic that a track would generate.
Stock car races haven't been held in South Hampton Roads since 1960. Two tracks once operated here - one at what is now the Janaf Shopping Center in Norfolk and the other at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach. ILLUSTRATION: Map
by CNB