Dear Govenor Warner,

As you may be aware, this month the Arlington County Civic Federation adopted a resolution opposing the building of a major league baseball stadium in Arlington. This letter is provided to advise you about our rationale for making this decision and to forward a copy of the resolution for your review.

The Civic Federation is not opposed, in principal, to the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area acquiring a major league baseball team. In fact, we believe that a baseball team sited in the right location could be a boost for the region. However, based on the information available to the Civic Federation, we know of no site in the Arlington area where a stadium could be constructed without significant negative impacts on our community. Therefore the Civic Federation would actively oppose such an initiative.

In reaching this conclusion, the Civic Federation considered that a major league baseball stadium built in Arlington, with a likely capacity of 45,000 or more fans, would:

• Require a site area of 20 to 30 acres
• Need parking facilities for thousands of cars and hundreds of buses
• Generate substantial traffic and noise
• Necessitate extensive and costly improvements to transportation and other infrastructure
• Impose substantial continuing financial obligations on our community

Since it is safe to assume that any such stadium would need to be sited near Metrorail stations and close to an expressway, it can be reasoned that the most likely sites under consideration would be in the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor or in Crystal City. Since both areas are already well developed and densely populated, building a stadium would have considerable negative economic impact as well as significantly jeopardizing the livability of our neighborhoods.

Therefore, it is for these and the reasons outlined in our resolution that the delegates of the 78 member organizations of the Civic Federation voted by a wide margin to oppose siting a major league baseball stadium in Arlington. Should you or your staff need additional information about this issue, we would be pleased to meet with you at your convenience.

Sincerely yours,


Jim Pebley
President, Arlington County Civic Federation

Attachment: Arlington County Civic Federation Resolution Dated March 5, 2002

cc: Governor Mark Warner
Senator John Warner
Senator George Allen
Congressman Jim Moran
State Senator Patsy Ticer
State Senator Mary Margaret Whipple
State Delegate Marian Van Landingham
State Delegate James Almand
State Delegate Robert Brink
Arlington County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig
Virginia Baseball Stadium Authority Chairman Michael Frey

This page was last revised on: December 27, 2003.