Thursday, July 31, 2003
The Victory Stadium debate
A new multiuse facility is the only sensible choice

By RUPERT CUTLER

   I INVITE you to look over my shoulder to see what I've seen, as a new member of Roanoke City Council attempting to learn all I can about the stadium controversy before voting on the issue. I've made a number of observations that are the basis of my decision to vote to support the council's unanimous decision on May 21, 2001, to build a modern new combined football stadium and amphitheater across Orange Avenue from the Roanoke Civic Center.

    I am a historic-building preservationist, but I am also a lifelong student of land and water management and benefit-cost analysis. As a result of these studies, I have a visceral suspicion of proposals to build or rebuild expensive structures in river floodways. Rivers have a way of breaching flood control sooner or later. The best plan is to keep expensive structures out of the river's natural and historic path.

    Work on the new multiuse project is under way, with $2 million having been spent on design and site preparation. The new facility can be open by the spring of 2005, conveniently located near Interstate 581 and U.S. 460 in downtown Roanoke.

    It will have a bowl-type configuration to minimize the escape of noise into the surrounding neighborhoods. Its lights are designed to minimize light pollution. It will seat 8,000 fans for football and soccer, 12,000 for entertainment events in chair-type seats and 18,000 patrons when the opportunity arises.

    A stand-alone amphitheater of that capacity would cost $10 million, while the amphitheater portion of our new, $18 million multiuse facility will cost less than half that. By leveraging two facilities into one, Roanoke gets one of the best high school football stadiums in Virginia and an amphitheater facility of the right size for our market.

    There will be more than enough parking on site to accommodate those attending games, and there will be a footbridge to the stadium from the civic center parking lot that will enable the lots in the vicinity to be shared. Easy access for shuttle buses, for quick transportation to nearby parking decks, is built into the traffic management plan for high-attendance events.

    The stadium-amphitheater's design is praised by Ken MacDonald, who has been bringing entertainers like Cher and Elton John to Roanoke for 15 years, as "a great project with a huge amount of versatility." It will not be a makeshift operation as Victory Stadium has been, where special setups are needed each time and are expensive to provide.

    It will boast modern locker rooms, dressing rooms, restrooms, concession stands, security and fire/EMS rooms, secure parking areas for teams and performers, modern loading docks for several semitrailer trucks at a time and 3,000 amps of power built in - a truly state-of-the-art, competitive facility.

    Of course architectural landmarks should be protected when practicable to do so. On that basis, should council walk away from its "final" May 2001 decision to build a modern stadium, and spend between $15 million and $20 million to bring Victory Stadium back from the brink of collapse after 60 years of neglect?

    Some envision safety or traffic problems at the new facility's location at Williamson Road and Orange Avenue. Do South Jefferson Street and Reserve Avenue strike you as more accessible than Orange Avenue and Williamson Road?

    Consider the current condition of Victory Stadium. Walking under the west stands, I'm shown whole walls of brickwork coming apart. The concrete framework has been shifting. The concrete cap on the brick wall is in a serpentine shape. The brickwork is bowing, no longer attached to its concrete anchor. Brick and block wall cracks and concrete deterioration abound. Chunks of concrete have fallen from the ceiling.

    The concrete walkways under the stands rise and fall, these "heaves" being the result of floodwater under the concrete. On the walls of the dungeon-like storage rooms under the stands are high-water marks from several floods.

    Going into the stands, I see the deterioration of the concrete stairs and risers holding the bleacher seats, expensive to repair. Climbing to the antiquated press box, I see many bare patches on the fragile grass playing field, caused by recent traditional events to which the city's recreation staff can't say no.

    Returning to the field, I note the crude drains that do a poor job of dewatering the playing field because they're at the same level as the nearby river. Every heavy rain and flood brings more silt to clog these drains and filters.

    The tiny concession stands are almost too small to turn around in. The creepy old locker and shower rooms are not places you'd want your children to use. The stadium's plumbing, wiring and lead-based paint are unsafe and would have to be replaced if renovation of Victory Stadium is the option chosen.

    Objections voiced by opponents of the new Williamson Road facility have included references to the tradition of a Fourth of July event in Victory Stadium, to restrictions in the deed by which the N&W Railway gave the city the land on which Victory Stadium stands and to the "necessity" of holding a referendum on city expenditures of this magnitude.

    When we lived in Washington, we didn't go to RFK Stadium on July Fourth; we went to the National Mall to enjoy the National Symphony performing on a temporary bandstand. Roanokers will adapt quickly to holding their July Fourth celebration, complete with orchestra, fireworks and folding chairs and blankets, on soccer fields at the old Victory Stadium site.

    As to the N&W deed's provisions, its condition is that the land must be used for "stadium, armory, park and recreational purposes only." Future use of the site as soccer fields is consistent with that language.

    There is nothing to the rumor that the city plans to turn the stadium site over to the Carilion Health System. With respect to the referendum request, the city has appropriated tens of millions of dollars recently for other construction projects such as high schools, storm drains, water pollution control facilities and civic center improvements without such referenda.

    What would it cost to renovate Victory Stadium? The latest estimate is $15 million. This provides for 3,000 seats plus benches for an additional 7,000 spectators, leaving much of the stadium's concrete risers bare.

    It doesn't provide for a stage, dressing rooms, truck dock or wheelchair seating. It doesn't move the maintenance and locker rooms out of the flood plain, address parking or access issues, or provide the electrical service needed by shows.

    If we decide to spend our money on Victory Stadium, it will take a year to design it and three more years to demolish and rebuild it. In late 2007 or 2008, the city will get a refurbished 65-year-old facility that will continue to have maintenance and repair issues.

    It will have no amphitheater, thus there will be no income from entertainment events to pay for needed civic center improvements. It would take another $10 million the city doesn't have to build a stand-alone amphitheater the city doesn't need.

    Many Roanokers favor construction of the new stadium. They want the city to demonstrate its ability to act on the issue and not get a reputation for changing its mind.

    I can hardly wait to attend the first event in the new stadium, to see how pleased our young ballplayers, their coaches and parents, and all Roanokers will be with their new sports and entertainment facility. I think the new stadium/amphitheater will be a gem of a public facility, bringing happiness and new business to our city and region. Our high school athletes and their parents and fans deserve such a first-class place to perform.

    I believe we should keep construction of the new facility moving and not delay it with another council "reconsideration" that could mean that additional years will go by without a competitive high school football stadium or outdoor entertainment venue in Roanoke.

    RUPERT CUTLER is a member of Roanoke City Council.

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