THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300369
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Almost three months after giving final approval for an auto race track and adjoining 684-acre industrial park, the City Council did it again Wednesday night.
Before an overflow crowd of about 275, the council voted 6-1 to again approve the projects after the Planning Commission reaffirmed its support in an 11-2 vote.
The council scheduled the highly unusual revote after opponents of the track persuaded the city to put the matter back on the table.
``We need to improve the quality of life in Suffolk,'' Councilman Charles F. Brown said. ``That's why I ran for council, and that's why I'm voting for this motion.''
Brown was one of two council members who originally had opposed the track. He had expressed concerns over how the project would affect a nearby church.
Wednesday, however, after further research, he said he had ``no reservations whatsoever'' about approving the track.
That wasn't true for Councilwoman Marian ``Bea'' Rogers, who voted against the project the first time and cast the lone dissenting vote Wednesday night.
``I'm afraid that $25,000 a year and a few jobs at a race track is not necessarily what I would call a comfort for our citizens,'' Rogers said.
The council chambers Wednesday night were divided down the aisle: Opponents - wearing yellow paper buttons showing a race car with a slash through it - sat on one side. Supporters sat on the other.
Mary Richardson of Pughsville told the council that the track and industrial park would devastate her community.
``You are still going to wreck my life, wreck my community's life, on the back of a race track,'' she said.
Other opponents argued that the track would violate the city's comprehensive plan. Folis Jones, a Suffolk resident and longtime race-car driver, read a statement that held the council responsible for any ill health resulting from the track.
``I have heard a lot of smoke and mirrors tonight,'' Jones said. ``I know what they sound like in the real world, and I'm not hearing that tonight.''
But Suffolk resident Margaret Hall pleaded with the council to approve the track.
``We need the tax base,'' she said. ``We need the race track. You can't build a city on pigs and peanuts.''
The Suffolk International Speedway, proposed as a half-mile oval with seating for 7,500, will be run by former Langley Raceway promoter Joe Baldacci Jr.
Wayne Rountree, of Rountree and Associates, an engineering firm hired by the developers, told the council that building the track will cost $5 million. Suffolk planning officials said they had no information on when construction would begin.
It was the track, not the industrial park, that prompted the unusual public hearing before a joint meeting of the Planning Commission and City Council.
Residents of Suffolk and Chesapeake who live near the track site said Suffolk city officials did not consult them or let them have their say before approving the project. The opponents made this claim despite numerous public hearings held by the city over a two-month period.
Major opposition to the track first surfaced in the adjacent Chesapeake neighborhood of Jolliff Woods, where residents worried it would cause noise and air pollution, tie up traffic and decrease property values. The track will be about 1.3 miles from the nearest home.
After their pleas to kill the track went nowhere, opponents sued the city, claiming that the track and industrial park violate Suffolk's comprehensive plan and should be rejected.
The lawsuit was filed last month on behalf of CAR - Citizens Against the Racetrack in Our Backyards. Besides asking the city to reverse its decision, the lawsuit also claimed that Suffolk officials violated state law by not giving Chesapeake officials enough notice for a December public hearing on the track.
Suffolk officials have declined to comment on their reasons for calling the new public hearing. Mayor S. Chris Jones would say only, ``In the spirit of open government, City Council will make every reasonable effort to meet the expectations of the plaintiffs.''
On Jan. 4, the council voted 5-2 to approve the track and voted unanimously to approve the Northgate Industrial Park.
The two projects will be at the intersection of Nansemond Parkway and Shoulders Hill Road in northern Suffolk, near Interstate 664. The industrial park, to be built by developer Upton and Arnette Associates, would be the largest in the city and one of the largest in South Hampton Roads. ILLUSTRATION: Staff Map
JOHN CORBITT/Staff
GARY C. KNAPP
The crowd spilled into a hallway during Wednesday's hearing.
Favoring the track were Clifford Smith of Suffolk, left; Tom Hisaw
of Poquoson; and George Carmines.
KEYWORDS: RACE TRACK SUFFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB