Supervisors Weigh Plan For Ballpark

Land-Use Designation Would Need to Change

By Christopher Twarowski

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Loudoun County supervisors have started debating the merits of having a minor league ballpark in the county, a project they will formally consider next month when they decide whether to approve a required land-use change.

The proposal before the Board of Supervisors would reclassify a 397-acre parcel at routes 28 and 7 to allow for a baseball stadium's construction. Supervisors voted Tuesday to move the item to their first meeting next month.

If the motion is approved, the area would receive a designation on the county's land-use map that would permit residential and business development as well as "special activities." The land's current designation limits development to high-end offices.

The proposed development, known as Kincora, would include offices, stores, restaurants, up to 1,400 condo-style residential units and the ballpark. The stadium would have 5,500 to 6,500 seats and sit on about 10 acres, said John C. McGranahan Jr., a partner at the McLean-based law firm Hunton & Williams who represents Kincora's owner, NA Dulles Real Estate Investor.

The team would be a new franchise with the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, backers of the project said. The league has eight teams in Northeastern cities — teams not affiliated with a major league or minor league club — and wants to expand.

The developer's economic impact studies show that the mixed-use project would have a net fiscal benefit to the county of $179 million over 20 years, not counting the $25 million it would contribute to the Route 28 tax district, McGranahan said.

"This expanded commercial tax base is what the board needs to reduce the residential tax burden," he said. "In addition, the owners are voluntarily providing $75 million in road improvements."

If Loudoun is going to get a stadium, supervisors need to begin discussions soon, he said.

"The Atlantic League is interested in locating a franchise in Virginia," he said. "We have a window of opportunity but need to know whether a stadium will be permitted at Kincora within the next six months or so."

Board Chairman Scott K. York (I), who co-sponsored the proposed land-use change with Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run), said a major benefit from the project would be the completion of sections of Gloucester Parkway and Pacific Boulevard, including bridge crossings over Broad Run.

"They would pay for those," York said of the developer. "We couldn't even begin to come close to getting any money from Richmond for years to even do the plans and engineering for all of this."

Another plus for the county, York said, is that the project would include land for a county fire and rescue station near the intersection of Gloucester and Pacific. Supervisors have been struggling to find a suitable location for the station for some time.

Some supervisors, however, voiced concerns about the Kincora proposal, saying they were not persuaded that the economic benefits of a stadium would outweigh the project's indirect costs to the county.

They said they were worried about the number of housing units in the project, which is more than the 1,068 units in a previous version of the Kincora plan. That version, which did not include a baseball stadium, was rejected a year ago by the previous Board of Supervisors. The developer has increased the residential component to help pay for the stadium, York said.

Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) noted Kincora's proximity to Dulles Town Center, which also is proposing to add housing units, and said he was concerned about that level of residential development.

"In essence, what Kincora's proposing is another town center, similar to what's right across the street," he said.

Although the Kincora plan does not call for using public funds to build the stadium, Burton said the costs of providing services to the new residents would amount to a public subsidy.

"Those residential units would bring with them an added tax burden, because none of them would pay enough tax to offset the services we have to provide for them," he said. "So there's an indirect public cost involved."

Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) agreed, saying that the residential portion of the project seemed large.

"A major campaign issue for me was keeping residential growth under control, and under control at a minimum means balance by nonresidential development," he said.

Miller also said many questions remain unanswered about a stadium's impact on the surrounding area.

"I need to get a lot more details on that," he said. "Five thousand cars in, once a week or twice a week or whatever, that's a major focused traffic event. I would need to know: Can our roadways handle that? What would the impact be to existing residents? How would the other businesses in that area feel about it?"

Burton said the stadium could bring in tourism dollars but did not seem likely to be a source of well-paying jobs.

"I don't know if it'd be an economic plus or not," he said. "New jobs created for hot-dog vendors, that's not too attractive."

Tagged: baseball, Board of Supervisors, development, growth, Land, sports

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