DATE: Wednesday, May 28, 1997               TAG: 9705280483

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONI GUAGENTI, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   54 lines

BEACH CLEARS WAY FOR STADIUM, GOLF COURSE CITY COUNCIL APPROVES CONCEPT PLAN AND REZONING CHANGES FOR LAKE RIDGE PROPERTY.

The City Council took the final legal steps needed Tuesday for construction to begin on a PGA golf course and multipurpose stadium on land stretching between City Hall and the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater.

The council approved, 8-3, a concept plan that will officially designate uses for most of the 1,200-acre Lake Ridge property that the city bought in December 1994. It purchased an additional 100 adjoining acres earlier this year for a new juvenile detention center and already owned about 700 nearby acres.

Council took six separate votes Tuesday on various matters to move the plan forward.

The first major project on the Lake Ridge tract, the 20,000-seat amphitheater, opened a year ago on 90 acres. The 300-acre golf course is expected to be completed by the fall or summer of 1998 and the 6,000-seat stadium should open next May on 38 acres.

The Tournament Players Club golf course is a public-private venture between the city and the PGA Tour. It will include an 18-hole championship course and a 12,000-square-foot clubhouse. The PGA has the option of building a second 18-hole course within five years.

The city has agreed to put up $3.5 million toward the course in addition to setting aside the land. The total cost is estimated at $10 million to $12 million.

Council voted 10-1 to approve rezoning the Lake Ridge property so that it could suit these purposes. The property previously had been zoned for a variety of uses, including residential, hotel, business, offices and others under a failed development plan that ended in bankruptcy. Councilwoman Reba S. McClanan voted against the rezoning Tuesday.

The council was unanimous in its approval of a separate use permit for the golf course project alone.

But a similar use permit for the stadium faced some opposition.

Councilwomen McClanan, Barbara M. Henley and Nancy K. Parker opposed the $8 million stadium as they had during votes on the same issue earlier this year. Councilman William W. Harrison Jr. abstained because his law firm does some work with the Hampton Roads Mariners, which will be one of the stadium's primary tenants.

The Mariners, a minor league soccer franchise, are sitting out this summer's season because they lack a permanent home.

In addition to the Mariners, the stadium will be used by local high school football, soccer and field hockey teams as well as some college squads.

Council members McClanan, Henley and Parker voted against the concept plan for the golf course and stadium because they said they had not been informed of several changes to the overall plan as it had evolved.

They also wondered aloud whether the land use questions had been given enough time and study.

``I feel this is nice,'' Henley said. ``I kind of wanted spectacular.''

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