DATE: Friday, May 30, 1997                  TAG: 9705300690

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   84 lines

ICE-RINK PROPOSAL HITS NEIGHBORHOOD'S SLIPPERY SLOPE BEACH RESIDENTS OPPOSE LOCATION OF APARTMENTS TIED TO THE DEVELOPERS' PLAN.

Plans to build a $6.1 million ice-skating facility in the Alexandria neighborhood slid onto thin ice Thursday evening as a group of residents voted nearly 100 percent against a planned apartment complex there.

The ice rink and the apartment complex go hand-in-hand as part of a proposal involving four tracts of land: two commercial lots sandwiched by two tracts zoned for apartments at Centerville Turnpike and Lynnhaven Parkway.

Apartment developers W. Breck Wood and James M. Arnhold would like to switch an inside commercial tract with an apartment site on the outside, so that both pieces zoned for apartments would be together.

In exchange for neighborhood support of that plan, the developers had offered to donate 8.8 commercial acres, valued at more than $1 million, for the ice rink.

But the neighbors decided Thursday the deal wasn't worth another set of apartments near their subdivision. They fear the apartments will lower property values, overpopulate already burdened schools and increase traffic on roads notorious for congestion.

On Thursday, Alexandria Civic League members voted against the plan, even if they could dictate landscaping and building materials to ensure a top-notch apartment complex.

The group's opposition to the zoning change does not mean it won't happen - the City Council makes that decision - but it makes the change less likely and all but dooms the ice rink.

Thursday's vote reiterated a message civic league leaders brought to Arnhold and Wood last week: Build the rink on the commercial tract closest to their subdivision or not at all.

But Arnhold said before the meeting Thursday that if neighbors wouldn't support the parcel switch, the ice rink would probably not be built.

``It's not an option, we made that very clear to them,'' Arnhold said.

``Either they want it and it has to go where we're suggesting, or they don't.''

Before Thursday's meeting at Tallwood Elementary School, many Alexandria Civic League members thought the rink was the diamond in the rough - something they would like in their neighborhood even if apartments came with it.

But during the meeting, many of the more than 100 people said they weren't sure they wanted the rink anymore.

The rink is being proposed by former Hampton Roads Admirals player Patrick Cavanagh. Cavanagh and his partner, Brian S. Marro, president of Sports & Futures, have tried to assure the residents the facility would be top-notch and a great asset for the community.

Cavanagh and Marro have arranged private financing for their project, which would be the first triple-rink facility in Virginia. Their company, Chilled Ponds, must have a conditional-use permit from the city to proceed with construction.

All except one of about 45 civic league members voted to tell the developers they wanted a rink only if it didn't mean putting the apartment tracts together.

Max Tinsley, a Monument Drive resident, voted against that proposal because he doesn't want a rink - period. Tinsley said he thinks there are better commercial ventures for the property in question.

``I've lived near a roller rink before,'' said Megan Hoyt, a Falls Church Court resident who didn't vote because she opposes the rink, too. ``It became a hangout, a place with broken bottles and teen-agers. I love teen-agers but they're loud.''

Arnhold said he has also tried to emphasize how nice the apartments would be, brick and vinyl, two- and three-bedroom units with garages and fireplaces. The rent would range from $655 to $775.

He said he was having an artist draw a picture of what the apartments would look like to help extinguish neighbors' fears.

Councilwoman Louisa M. Strayhorn, whose borough includes Alexandria, attended the meeting and walked the crowd through the finer points of zoning law, explaining what the developers' rights are.

The land has been zoned for apartment development since 1975, and Wood and Arnhold need no further approval from the neighbors or the city to build at one of the sites, which they plan to do in two weeks.

Strayhorn said she would support the civic league in council if the league can get support from about 90 percent of the subdivision's residents. Strayhorn has said all along that the project would need community support to go forward.

Currently, Richard P. Simonton, president of the civic league, said the group has about 15 percent of the subdivision as members.

The group used Thursday evening as a membership drive and an opportunity to get people to volunteer to knock on doors to get neighbors to sign a petition supporting the group's cause. The petition would then be presented to the council.

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