DATE: Wednesday, June 11, 1997              TAG: 9706110420

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   85 lines

HORROW GETS TEPID REACTION TO NEW REGION PROPOSAL

If Rick Horrow had any doubts that persuading Virginia Beach to join in funding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of regional facilities was going to be difficult, they ended Tuesday morning when he met with the City Council.

Virginia Beach Councilman John Baum kicked off a 30-minute session of polite but blunt questioning of Horrow by expressing distaste for major league sports and high-priced athletes. He said Horrow would have trouble convincing him to spend city money on a sports arena.

Then he added: ``This Rhinos experience hurt the whole region. . . . You had grown people standing up and snorting.''

Horrow, a Miami-based consultant with an extensive sports background, was hired in April by the Hampton Roads Partnership to put together a package of ``quality of life'' projects that would be funded regionally. Among them is expected to be a sports arena.

That's a sore subject with some in Virginia Beach who felt the region's recent failed effort to land a National Hockey League team - one that would have been called the Rhinos - was foolhardy. The Partnership signed an agreement that called for the region to build an arena in downtown Norfolk if the region were awarded an NHL franchise.

Horrow headed a sports authority that brought NBA basketball and a new arena to Miami and is facilities coordinator for the National Football League. But he distanced himself from sports Tuesday, emphasizing that in Oklahoma City, Tampa and other cities where he's worked, the vast majority of facilities approved by voters were non-sports projects.

``I can't change or alter perceptions,'' he said. ``Sports is always a highly visible, charged issue in the early stages of these campaigns. But I can't tell you forcefully enough that the end product . . . may include sports, but sports will not dominate this package.''

Beach Councilwoman Nancy K. Parker nonetheless then expressed what some on the council had been saying in private for weeks: Many in the Beach perceive Horrow's proposal as a way for Norfolk to ``dress up'' the arena proposal and make it more palatable for voters.

``I understand perception has a way of feeding itself. I don't know what else to say other than that is not the intent,'' he said.

``You ask the people in Oklahoma City whether at the end of the day they thought it was a sports process . . . or a process dominated by other facilities. . . . They will tell you it was not a sports process.''

Virginia Beach City Council was the second, and the most volatile, stop Tuesday in a 10 1/2-hour day for Horrow. He began with a speech to Virginia Beach Vision, a business group that greeted him warmly.

He then went in succession to the Beach, Norfolk, Newport News and Chesapeake city councils. At each stop he made a half-hour presentation, saying he has no preconceived notions on what projects should be included and promising the process of selecting projects would be ``inclusive.''

In Norfolk, Newport News and Chesapeake the questions were largely friendly in nature.

``We're not approaching this with any sense of fear that it will be a biased or preferential process,'' Chesapeake Councilman John M. De Triquet said.

``We really feel this is the opportunity for all of the communities to get together . . . and move ahead for the region's benefit. I feel very comfortable with the process, . . . that it's a good process all council members should get behind.''

Virginia Beach Councilman W.W. Harrison Jr. agrees, but prefaced a series of questions by saying that he doubted Horrow could be successful and that he's not sure Horrow's proposal is something the Partnership should be pursuing. He questioned Horrow closely on his experience, especially in working with regions such as Hampton Roads where cities are not accustomed to cooperating.

``I think what he proposes would be good for the region,'' Harrison said. ``I'm skeptical whether 15 member jurisdictions can pull it off.

``But his answers were encouraging, so I'm not going to say no. I'm going to say we should give it a try.''

Beach Councilman Louis Jones asked whether Virginia Beach residents could be taxed to pay for Horrow's proposal if the city decides not to participate. He was assured by Partnership President Barry DuVal that would not happen.

``This is probably the best chance for something like this to happen,'' said Jones, who added that the year-long process laid out by the Partnership for putting a proposal together ``was the correct course.''

Fatigued but nonetheless upbeat by day's end, Horrow insisted that even the Virginia Beach meeting was ``positive and productive.''

``You have elected officials who want to know about the process,'' he said, ``and we intend to keep them informed.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Consultant Rick Horrow is tasked with creating a package of projects

that would be funded regionally.

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