For years, Marvin F. Wilson has had an Olympic-size dream forthe young people who live inside the Capital Beltway in PrinceGeorge's County. The County Council member has now put his dream onpaper in an eight-page, multicolor brochure and sent 20,000 copiesto people in his district.
The brochure displays the recreation complex Wilson hopes willbe built on 80 acres next to the new Washington Redskins footballstadium in Landover. It would include a park; a field house with a200-meter indoor track; basketball and volleyball courts; anenclosed ice skating rink; tennis courts; an aquatic center with a50-meter Olympic pool; a miniature golf site; a gymnasium; a weightand fitness center; an outdoor 400-meter track; and a soccer field.
'My dream represents the dreams of a lot of people inside theBeltway,' said Wilson, a Democrat who represents the 5th District,which includes many neighborhoods inside the Beltway. 'Our kids needa variety of activities, and we have to get them out of the mind-setthat basketball is the only thing they can do.'
The dream got a big boost last year because of Jack KentCooke's vision for a new home for his football team. As part of thestadium deal, the Redskins owner agreed to contribute $3 milliontoward the project, and county officials will add the $4.1 millionCooke will pay for the purchase of the Wilson Farm. The state alsowill chip in $5 million for the sports center.
Here's the problem: Marvin Wilson's dream -- the dream that tomany in Prince George's became the justification for the entirestadium project -- will cost at least $37 million. The price tag hasraised two questions in the minds of people who support the conceptof a sports complex: How much of it actually will get built? Willthe intention to hold national and international sporting eventsmake the dream so grand that it will squeeze out some of thechildren Wilson hopes to serve?
Wilson, who spent $5,000 of his county expense budget on thebrochure, is hoping it will spark more interest from developers. The$12 million in the budget for the sports complex in fiscal 1997 willpay for only the building of the outdoor soccer and track fields andpart of the field house, according to park and planning officials.Money for the tennis, ice skating and golf centers must come fromprivate development.
The project has been placed in the Maryland-National CapitalPark and Planning Commission's capital improvement budget, which wasapproved by the council May 29, and is scheduled to take six yearsto complete. About $16 million will come from the commission's saleof bonds during that time. But park and planning officials estimatethat at least $11 million must be raised from private developers.
County officials had in mind Fairland Athletic Complex inLaurel when they developed a plan for what would be included in theproject. But Wilson said the sports complex will be larger and willinclude more facilities. Fairland, which is spread across 400 acresin Prince George's and Montgomery counties, has an athletic centerwith tennis and racquetball courts and a weight room; an aquaticfacility with a 50-meter pool; and an ice skating center scheduledto open in September.
The county's original intent in purchasing the Wilson Farmlast year was to build a park and athletic center in response toresident complaints about the lack of recreational facilities foryoungsters inside the Beltway, where the population is predominantlyAfrican American and poor to working class. Residents said theywanted a complex similar to Fairland, which is in the mostly whiteLaurel area in the northern part of the county.
'The feeling has been for years and years that theinner-Beltway communities have been cheated out of what areequivalent facilities out in the pricier suburbs,' said Stan Fetter,president of the Prince George's County Civic Federation. 'We badlyneed a very good facility in that area.'
Sylvester Vaughns, vice president of the Palmer Park CitizensAssociation, said, 'We would not have accepted the stadium withoutthe sports complex.
'It will be used 100 percent by people in the community.'
With construction already underway on the 78,600-seat stadium,Wilson said he hopes the sports complex will move at a similar pace.He wants to see work on the field house completed by kickoff time atthe new stadium in September 1997. Robert M. Arciprete, chief of thecommission's planning division, said that is unlikely, because heestimates that construction still is at least six months away.
Leroy McDowell, a 14-year-old resident of the Palmer Parkcommu nity, thinks the sports complex will help bring down thecrime rate in the area. 'It will be a place for kids to go to,' hesaid.
The sports complex, with its plans for internationalcompetitions, appears so fancy and sophisticated that some wonder ifthe local neighborhood children -- some who cannot afford the$10-a-year price for a park recreation card -- will be forgotten.
'I hope this sports complex is not a sales gimmick,' said Cpl.William Steen, a community police officer in the Capitol Heightsarea who serves as a mentor for young people. 'We have some viableconcerns with our youth, and I hope that they keep that their numberone focus.'
'Why do they have to put up something that big?' asked Theresa Mitchell Dudley, vice president of the Kentland Civic Association,who lives near the stadium site. 'Some of us would have been happywith a swimming pool.'
Arciprete said the project's goals are in line with thecommunity's concerns.
'The last thing the community is interested in is our buildinga facility that is not community oriented,' he said.
