Prompted by Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Monday passed a strongly worded resolution opposing a Major League baseball stadium at Fort Belvoir's Engineer Proving Grounds (EPG).
The resolution, which came as a surprise, notes that the county has already drafted a plan for the site with citizen input which does not include a baseball stadium. Kauffman envisions a biomedical research campus on the site.
"This isn't about America's pastime," said Kauffman. "This is about land use and the wise use of taxpayer dollars."
THE RESOLUTION is a blow to baseball boosters who must convince local officials to make the necessary land-use changes to build a stadium. Now that the Fairfax Board is on record opposing professional baseball, it is unlikely that a team will move to Fairfax County.
"I'm disappointed that Mr. Kauffman brought this forward before the Board had a chance to get a presentation from the Stadium Authority," said Supervisor Michael Frey (R-Sully), who also serves as chairman of the Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority, the group tasked with luring a team to Northern Virginia. The authority has made a presentation to County Executive Anthony Griffin but has not yet briefed Board members.
Frey cast the only dissenting vote.
In March, the Stadium Authority proposed five possible sites for a baseball stadium. Three are in Arlington, one is at the EPG and one is in Loudoun County. Building a stadium at the EPG site would cost $379 million and would call for extensions to Metro's Blue Line and to the Fairfax County Parkway.
Brian Hannigan, a Stadium Authority spokesperson, said that the Authority has not chosen one site above the others but that the Arlington sites have generated the most interest. The Arlington County Board has not taken a stance on a professional baseball team.
HANNIGAN AND Frey said the resolution contained factual errors about the financing of the stadium.
"We should not in good conscience permit the use of taxpayer dollars for what should be a purely private venture," said the resolution.
But the baseball backers said the stadium would not take any money out of the state's General Fund. All of its revenues would come from sales taxes, ticket taxes and income taxes generated at the stadium, said Hannigan.
"We've made it quite clear, we are not looking to divert any General Fund revenues that otherwise would be used for education, transportation, health care, housing or any of the critical needs of the commonwealth of Fairfax County," said Hannigan. "In many other places, the types of revenue that we have in place are viewed as user fees."
The resolution, said Hannigan, "misstates the facts drastically."
At Monday's meeting, Frey said, "With all due respect to my colleague and friend Mr. Kauffman, there are several misstatements in this resolution."
But Kauffman refused to back down. Revenue from the special taxes would go back to the Stadium Authority, not to the state's coffers. At the same time, the baseball stadium would probably be exempt from real-estate taxes.
"If we are to be about raising and creating new taxes, they should be used to offset the real-estate tax," he said.