THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180344
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 79 lines
The deadline to submit possible sites for a major league baseball stadium in Northern Virginia passed without any takers Monday evening, likely imperiling chances to have a major league team playing in Virginia by 1999.
What was once a list of at least 13 possible sites for a ballpark had withered to one by Monday morning. That lone entrant - an attractive but troubled site in Arlington County - didn't meet a 5 p.m. deadline to submit an application and $150,000 fee.
Meanwhile in Richmond, state officials said the Virginia Lottery would have to kick in about $14 million a year to build the stadium. That could be too much of a commitment for professional baseball to have a chance in Virginia, some lawmakers said.
The developments leave would-be team owner William L. Collins III unlikely to meet his own deadline of having a stadium site and a financing plan in hand this summer. Collins hopes to buy a team - probably the Houston Astros - after the season closes this year.
Collins' Virginia Baseball Club Inc. would move the franchise first to Washington's RFK Stadium next year, and then to the new stadium in the Virginia suburbs in 1999.
``I don't think we can do it by 1999, realistically,'' said George L. Barton IV, chairman of the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, on Monday. Barton said his group is still plugging for a team and will likely begin the stadium process anew.
The original stadium process envisioned localities vying for the chance to host a $220 million, 48,000-seat stadium. The project is expected to bring in millions in taxes and sales for the host locality and the state.
But possible sites in Fairfax and Loudoun counties dropped out of contention as neighbors objected to the potential noise and traffic.
Eventually only a longshot site in Stafford County 40 miles south of Washington, and the Arlington County site, remained. On Friday, Stafford withdrew when it was clear the proposed site wasn't a serious contender.
On Monday, Arlington officials submitted a packet of material about their Potomac River site. But an anonymous donor who had pledged the $150,000 non-refundable application fee withdrew that offer in part because the Federal Aviation Administration has raised safety questions about the site's proximity to Washington National Airport, said Bill Buck, who represents Arlington on the stadium authority.
Mike Scanlon, a spokesman for Collins, remained upbeat. ``I think we will have the opportunity to buy a team this season,'' he said.
Two issues still cloud negotiations to finance a stadium: Whether channeling money from a special lottery into a baseball stadium would take money from other state services, and what effect borrowing more than $200 million could have on the state's credit rating.
The legislative subcommittee studying stadium financing plans to approve a final report July 1. But members said Monday that the report probably won't answer questions about how much state money should be spent and whether Virginia's solid credit rating should be used to borrow it.
Instead, the full General Assembly will likely be asked to consider the issues, either during its next session in January or a special session this fall.
The investors still hope to begin negotiations in early July, and to have a commitment from a major league team to show the Assembly before it reconvenes in January.
``I think once we have a baseball team in hand looking for a new stadium, it will be a much easier vote for the legislature to make,'' Scanlon said.
Many lawmakers remained optimistic Monday that some solution will be found before the Astros or some other teams looking for new homes settle in elsewhere.
Winchester Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., a strong advocate of the project, at one point rattled off about a dozen cities and states around the country in which public support has helped build stadiums.
``North Carolina has two professional teams, for crying out loud,'' he said. ``And we have zip?''
``We also have the lowest tax rate in America,'' responded Roanoke County Del. C. Richard Cranwell. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE PLAYERS
There are three major players in the stadium effort: the
Alexandria-based Virginia Baseball Club Inc., the stadium authority
and the 13-member legislative panel drafting a financing plan. by CNB