THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 21, 1994 TAG: 9412210254
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Plans for a possible NASCAR track stalled Tuesday when, in a tie vote, the Suffolk Planning Commission denied a permit to build the proposed Suffolk International Speedway.
Just before, the commission unanimously approved plans to build an adjacent 684-acre industrial park. City officials have said the race track would be necessary to help fund the park. Both proposals were announced in July.
Tuesday's votes send a mixed signal to the Suffolk City Council, which will consider both items at their Jan. 4 meeting.
The 13-member planning commission voted 6-6 on the race track, thus recommending denial. Member Boyd E. Quate was absent.
Leon Johnson, assistant city manager, has said the city planned to pay for and build the road, water and sewer lines to the track, with developers repaying the city. Without the road and utilities, city officials have said the park would take longer to grow.
Despite the mixed vote, Thomas N. Waller, executive director of the Suffolk Industrial Development Authority, said plans for the industrial park and raceway were far from dead. Waller and the city sponsored the rezoning request for the industrial park.
Upton and Arnette Associates announced plans in July to build the industrial park and track on farmland near the intersection of Nansemond Parkway and Shoulders Hill Road, both two-lane roads that wind through rural Suffolk.
The race track, a half-mile oval with seating for about 7,500, would sit on 65 acres at the southern end of the industrial park, about 1.3 miles from the two roads.
Track promoters told city officials that racing could begin in March 1996. Langley Raceway promoter Joe Baldacci Jr. would bring Langley's races south in an attempt to draw larger crowds and more prestigious races. An estimated 65 percent of the audience at Langley are from the Southside, and Baldacci has said he wants to bring the races to them.
Proponents of the park and track pleaded for approval. ``I'm speaking against my friends,'' said former Suffolk Mayor J.W. Nelms Jr., ``but I have to speak the truth. The city needs this revenue.''
Russell Dixon, who staged a one-man protest against the park and track outside Suffolk City Hall on Tuesday, recognized the city's needs.
``I know we need the tax base,'' he said. ``I know we need the industry. But I'm saying to look somewhere else.''
Suffolk officials are more interested in the industrial park than the race track.
Suffolk, which broke records in issuing building permits in the last two years, needs industry, jobs and income to help pay for the city services required by these new residents. And with the city-owned Wilroy Industrial Park nearly full, the city is looking for another prime industrial site.
In Waller's eyes, the proposed Northgate Industrial Park is it. The park could be serviced by rail and is near Interstate 664. Using figures from Wilroy Industrial Park, the city is estimating that 1,641 jobs and $2.6 million in tax revenue could be created by the proposed park and track.
Waller said during the meeting that several companies have expressed interest in the site, with one company saying it would like to move its national headquarters there. Waller refused to name the company.
KEYWORDS: RACE TRACK by CNB