THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110292
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW KENT COUNTY LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
It's pretty quiet out here, halfway between downtown Richmond and Colonial Williamsburg.
Interstate 64 provides the only break in the tree-lined silence of this undeveloped county, population 13,000.
The opening of a restaurant was big news here this summer. The lunch crowd would be bigger, though, if the trains that whiz by 16 times a day actually stopped.
But things are changing in New Kent.
Richmonders are discovering just how peaceful life can be a half-hour's commute from the Capitol. Bulldozers recently cleared 228 acres of the rolling hillsides for an upscale public golf course. And Wednesday, the Virginia Racing Commission will decide whether the county will be home to the state's only race track.
Two of the five finalists have chosen New Kent as their proposed track site. R.J. Emerson Jr., acting New Kent County administrator, said the area is the best spot for the race track because it is accessible to residents in all of Virginia, not just the northern or southeastern portions.
There may not be many people in his back yard, he said, but much of the state is within a two-hour drive.
And many who would head for the proposed track locations in Virginia Beach and Portsmouth would ``have to go right by our site,'' Emerson noted.
Unlike Portsmouth, which would have to demolish 938 houses to make room for a track, only pine trees stand in the way in New Kent.
Unlike Virginia Beach, which has promised to spend $5 million building roads and other services if it wins the track, New Kent's site is just off the interstate and would require only about $1 million in public investment.
And unlike Prince William County, whose residents just successfully fought the Walt Disney Co.'s plans to build a theme park, a track in New Kent has overwhelming public support, Emerson said.
New Kent also needs the track more than any of the other communities, Emerson said, because the other places would all be adding to the economic and entertainment base they've already got, while his area's prime asset is its empty land.
Most of the anticipated growth would take place on property held by Chesapeake Corp., the state's largest landowner. Chesapeake Corp.'s subsidiary, Delmarva Properties Inc., owns one-fifth of New Kent County - so much land that it is offering to donate the 345 acres at I-64 and State Highway 155 that a successful applicant would need for the track.
Peter M. Johns, special projects manager for Delmarva, said his firm is willing to give away the land because a track would be the centerpiece of all development to follow. He envisions golf courses, a tennis center and polo grounds.
``We want to create a leisure-time destination,'' he said. ``We want people to come, spend the day in beautiful, pastoral New Kent County . . . and go home at night.''
That's also what Emerson wants: for New Kent to make money off tourists, but remain mostly undeveloped and relatively problem-free.
Both New Kent applicants agree with this concept, and each says his proposal is the best-suited to it.
Dr. Jeffrey A. Taylor, a dentist from Covington in western Virginia, said the construction and engineering expertise of his father and siblings, his partners, means his track would be the most economical and therefore the most likely to succeed. His project, called Virginia Downs, is also the cheapest by far of the five proposed. Taylor said he and his family can build a high-quality track for $28.5 million. Portsmouth's proposed track, by comparison, is estimated to cost $65 million.
Taylor said he has overcome his inexperience in the horse-racing industry by hiring the best track consultants in the world. He also brings passion for horses and a newly recognized dream to run a race track.
He submitted an application despite the odds, Taylor said, because, ``I thought: What a great way to spend my days, in a business I can make a living in with the horses I love so much.''
His New Kent competitor, Arnold Stansley, shares Taylor's dedication to horses but far outdistances his experience. Stansley began hanging out at race tracks when he was 16, first exercising horses and then, when he realized he was too heavy to become a thoroughbred jockey, driving standardbred horses. He is now vice president and 50 percent owner of Raceway Park in Toledo, Ohio, a standardbred track, and partner in Trinity Meadows, a thoroughbred track in Fort Worth, Texas.
The unique aspect of Stansley and his partners' application to build Colonial Downs is the relationship their track would share with thoroughbred tracks in Maryland.
The high-quality horses that run in Maryland in the spring, fall and winter would come to his track in the summer, Stansley said. It's a simple formula for success, he explained: The better the horses, the greater the appeal to gamblers. The more money bet, the more money available to attract the best horses.
He also proposes a longer thoroughbred racing season than the other applicants, which could generate more spinoff business for the local economy.
That activity would be good news to New Kent's Emerson, who is excited by the prospect of his sleepy jurisdiction becoming a destination.
As the county grows, so will the county budget, and then, maybe, Emerson will get more help running things. It's pretty exhausting, he said, to be acting county administrator, assistant county administrator, planning director and director of community and economic development all at once. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by ROBIE RAY
Peter M. Johns of Delmarva Properties says his firm is willing to
donate land in New Kent County for Virginia's horse race track.
KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING HORSE RACE TRACK
by CNB