THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 1, 1995 TAG: 9502010450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
As far as city officials are concerned, approval for the Suffolk International Raceway is a done deal.
But a new wave of opposition to the race-car track has arisen from across the city line in Chesapeake.
Tonight, representatives of ``Citizens Against the Racetrack in Our Backyard'' will appear before the Suffolk City Council to ask it to ``review, reconsider and re-evaluate erroneous as well as new information'' about the facility, which would be built along the border with Chesapeake.
The Jolliff Woods Civic League in Chesapeake has joined forces with a growing number of Suffolk residents and civic organizations to battle the track.
Jolliff Woods is just over a mile from the track site. Residents there say their quality of life and property values will be affected by the project. Yet, they say, because they are not Suffolk citizens, they were given little or no opportunity to be part of the process.
Most Jolliff Woods residents say they found out about the track and its location late in the game. By the time they got involved, the track was already approved.
Still, this civic league and others are continuing to fight, saying the track was ``pushed through'' and requires closer inspection.
Jolliff Woods residents have gone to Langley Raceway in Hampton to perform their own sound tests, which they say show that noise from the track will travel a greater distance than that predicted in sound tests used by Suffolk.
They have also engineered a meeting of the two cities' mayors and city managers, joined forces with Suffolk residents opposed to the track, and inquired about attorneys while the neighborhood sets up a bank account to pay for future legal action. Residents and others say that possibility is becoming more and more likely.
But this cross-border uproar isn't causing Suffolk to budge.
City officials point out that a number of public hearings were held and substantial publicity about the track was generated before residents of Jolliff Woods began their protests. Now, say Suffolk officials, it's too late - the decision has been made to approve the track.
``I think that Suffolk has bent over backwards,'' Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish said of the dispute. ``City Council made a decision. Period. I really don't believe there is an argument that the issue wasn't publicly announced or made public.
``And staff will not revisit it without the direction from the council to do so.''
The City Council apparently also hasn't been swayed by arguments from Jolliff Woods. Council members say Suffolk sent notice about the track to Chesapeake's city manager in December.
``The decision has been made, thoroughly debated and discussed, and we're on to other issues,'' said Mayor S. Chris Jones. ``We did listen to the neighbors and their concerns, and I believe we addressed them.''
The half-mile oval race track was approved by the council on Jan. 4 as part of an adjoining 684-acre industrial park near the intersection of Shoulders Hill Road and Nansemond Parkway in Suffolk. It is the first time in years that an automobile race-track proposal has made it this far in South Hampton Roads.
Developers of the facility have promised city officials that traffic, noise and pollution from the track will not affect nearby residents, the closest of whom lives about 1.3 miles from the track site. In addition, the Suffolk City Council placed several restrictions on the track while pledging to monitor noise and air pollution.
Despite these promises, Jolliff Woods and Suffolk residents say their lives will never be the same once the track is built.
Vincent Ciarametaro, 47, lives in Wild Duck Crossing in Jolliff Woods with his wife and three children. He said he chose to move here because, when he first visited, the streets and yards were filled with children.
``It gets kind of depressing to think that the track could be built so close by,'' he said. ``This is a terribly emotional issue. We're trying to preserve a way of life here.''
Dave Walkup, 34, who helped with the sound test at Langley that he said challenges Suffolk's sound data, said Jolliff Woods, as well as Suffolk, has a lot to lose.
Marvin Barnes, 46, a resident of Jolliff Woods, has lived in the area for some 20 years. He worries the track will affect his neighborhood.
``I don't believe any real estate company will want to put on their brochure that a community is conveniently located near an auto race track,'' Barnes said recently. ``An auto race track is considered a negative aspect of any community. You might just as well draw a circle with a six-mile radius and say: Here is the impacted area.''
Jolliff Woods is a neighborhood of about 300 upscale homes in a clearing southeast of the track site. No two houses are built the same, and most residents say they moved here to escape the crowds and the sometimes impersonal nature of surrounding cities.
The Jolliff Woods Civic League, headed by Lori Dingus, has a 90 percent participation rate.
The neighborhood holds steak and potato cookouts, Easter egg hunts and bonfires at Christmas.
Dingus is far from hopeful that the Suffolk City Council members will change their minds.
``I don't think we're going to be successful,'' she said. ``I think we're going to end up fighting it through other means.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MICHAEL KESTNER/Staff
Jolliff Woods residents, from left, Dave Walkup, Lori Dingus, Marvin
Barnes and Vince Ciarametaro say they were left in the dark about
plans for the Suffolk International Raceway.
Map
STAFF
KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING RACE TRACKS PROTESTS by CNB