THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 2, 1995 TAG: 9501020066
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long : 164 lines
Life is loud around Langley Raceway.
There's the deafening roar from the nearby ``trim pad'' at Langley Air Force Base, where fighter jets park to test their engines at full throttle. Looming down the street are the wind tunnels at NASA - huge long white buildings that periodically cause ground-shaking booms.
So ask 67-year-old Laura Ripe about the noise from Langley Raceway, the NASCAR-sanctioned race track in her back yard, and she has few complaints.
``Honey,'' she said. ``It's the quietest noise around.''
Joe Baldacci Jr., the promoter at Langley Raceway, would like to bring that ``quietest noise'' to rural Suffolk.
The Suffolk City Council is scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to grant permission for a race track and a 684-acre industri al park at Nansemond Parkway and Shoulders Hill Road, two-lane roads near the Chesapeake border.
The Suffolk Planning Commission deadlocked on the race track, thus sending a recommendation for denial to the council, which holds final sway over the plans. Planning commissioners recommended approval for the adjoining industrial park.
Baldacci announced in July that he and developers Upton and Arnette Associates wanted to build the Suffolk International Speedway, a half-mile oval seating about 7,500. Baldacci has said he would move his operation from Langley to Suffolk for the 1995 season if Suffolk officials approved his plan. It is unknown if the Hampton speedway - known as the ``Action Track of the South'' - would remain open.
Baldacci has refused to discuss details of his plans since making the announcement. Despite protests from nearby residents, few details have been publicly released about the proposed track and industrial park. Many residents are not sure what effect the development will have on their lives.
The neighborhoods around Langley Raceway are a good place to start, despite some major differences.
NOISE: At Langley, residents live in the shadow of the track. In Suffolk, the track would be almost two miles from any residence and surrounded on three sides by woods.
When the proposal went before the Suffolk Planning Commission, no restrictions were placed on the track's developers to impede or monitor noise. Suffolk does have a noise ordinance and has promised to enforce it around the track.
Hampton police said they do not track such noise complaints around Langley Raceway.
Nearby residents in the Langley Trailer Park have become dulled to the noise in a neighborhood filled with various ear-piercing sounds.
``It wasn't aggravating,'' Pat Dunagan, 36, said of the track while he lived in the nearby Spinnacker Cove apartments. ``You noticed it on race night. But it wasn't the type of aggravating where you want to pull your hair out. There are far more aggravating sounds around here.''
HOURS: Working hours for both tracks would likely be the same, with races held Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. Practices would be held during the week. Fans would arrive at about 5:30 p.m. on race nights and stay until about 11 p.m.
Developers have promised the race track will not interfere with local church services on Sundays.
CROWDS AND TRAFFIC: Crowds are likely to be larger in Suffolk than at Langley and possibly larger than the seating capacity of the proposed track, according to publicly-stated figures from the developers.
The proposed track is said to seat 7,581 people. Thomas N. Waller, executive director of the Suffolk Industrial Development Authority, said the track is predicted to have 2,600 cars pass through its gates during a sellout event. With an average of three people per car, according to Waller, the track could see crowds of 7,800. It is expected that the excess audience will be seated on the track's infield.
Waller has said the track can accommodate those crowds. But the Suffolk Police Department has said the roads cannot.
According to the state Transportation Department, the daily traffic count on nearby Nansemond Parkway, from Kings Highway to the city line, is 6,500 vehicles. Traffic counts on nearby Shoulders Hill Road to Gum Road in Chesapeake are 20,372 vehicles daily.
Those figures caused the Police Department to recommend denial for the traffic because of predicted traffic congestion.
There are few if any traffic problems near Langley, residents have said. Things run smoothly on race days and traffic flows into a wide parking area despite the track being served by a narrow two-lane road similar to those in Suffolk.
QUALITY OF LIFE: Other questions about the track and industrial park remain unknown, such as how the development will affect the quality of life in this largely rural section of Suffolk.
Certainly, life near Langley has changed. Residential housing is at a minimum, the noise is near constant and residents in Langley Trailer Park have to deal with parking spillover from the races, the occasional beer cans in the front yard and the nighttime sounds of open throttles.
But residents have adapted. And instead of being a hindrance, residents see the track as a benefit. Some Langley neighbors said it keeps their teenagers close to home and away from trouble.
Ripe, who has lived next to the Langley Raceway since 1975, sees more good than bad coming from the track.
``They've got no problem,'' said Ripe of the concerns of Suffolk residents. ``They just think they have a problem.''
Ripe's husband Clarence, 67, agrees. ``Looks like to me it's going to be a benefit,'' he said. ``Makes sense to me. You just tell those people that they'll have their taxes raised because the track isn't coming and they'll change their minds right quick.''
MONEY AND TAXES: Whenever asked about the benefits of having Langley Raceway in their back yards, nearby residents frequently mentioned money.
The nearby West Gate Pub gets ``100 percent packed'' on race days, filling the dining room's 80 chairs and leaving customers standing.
``This is a money-making place - this little hole in the wall,'' said Jan Vest, a cook at the pub.
As for the city's income from the track, Ross Mugler, commissioner of revenue for Hampton, said it will be minimal.
Mugler is prohibited by state law from revealing how much money Hampton receives from Langley Raceway in taxes such as the business license and admissions taxes. However, Mugler said that, all told, the race track's contribution to the city is ``fairly insignificant.''
When asked to explain, Mugler said Langley brings in somewhat more than $10,000 but less than $100,000 in city taxes, including real estate tax, which is expected to be about $8,700 for this year.
``We hate to lose it,'' said Mugler. ``I think racing fans on this side will miss it. But it's not like a major windfall for Suffolk.''
But for Suffolk, the track is a means to an end. And that end is the proposed Northgate Industrial Park.
Since plans were first announced, city planning officials have said the industrial park was dependent on race track money.
City officials have said Suffolk plans to pay for and build the road, water and sewer lines to the track, with developers repaying the city over time. In doing so, the developers get a main water and sewer line quickly built down the middle of their land. This gives private businesses some financial incentive to locate at the park because they will have to spend less money on infrastructure.
Money from race track taxes and profits as well as money from the developer will be used to pay the city back, according to Leon T. Johnson, Suffolk's former assistant city manager.
Without this arrangement, city officials have said the park will take longer to grow because developers will have to pay for the park's infrastructure up front.
Suffolk broke all known records this year in issuing building permits. As a result of this boom in development, the city needs industry, their jobs and tax income to help pay for city services required by these new developments. And with the city-owned Wilroy Industrial Park nearly full, Suffolk is looking for another prime industrial site.
From the city's perspective, the proposed Northgate Industrial Park, would be serviced by rail and is within easy driving of Interstate 664, is it.
Using figures from Wilroy, Waller said Northgate Industrial Park could help create 1,600 jobs and $2.6 million in tax revenue.
Back at Langley Trailer Park, Laura Ripe said that when she read about residential protest in Suffolk over the track, she was floored.
``It's a money-maker,'' she said. ``And today, that's the name of the game. With the shipyard cutting down and the military cutting back, that's what you've got to do.''
She was interrupted by two fighter jets taking off overhead. Once the planes had flown away, Ripe put her hands on her hips.
``And they talk about race track noise?'' ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Staff
Laura Ripe, who lives with her husband, Clarence, beside Langley
Raceway.
JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI
Staff
Lisa St. John, a manager at Langley Raceway for six years, looks out
over the track that might be relocated to Suffolk if the city
council gives its approval on Wednesday.
by CNB