DUMFRIES — Imagine, if you, a baseball stadium in Dumfries on the Quantico Creek that leads to the Potomac River.
Just a stone’s throw from the busy intersection of Routes 1 and 234, near Interstate 95.
The home team? The Potomac Nationals.
It sounds like it could be a smaller version of Nationals Stadium in Washington, right? And after last year’s contentious failed attempt to bring the stadium to Woodbridge, talk about another baseball stadium sounds like deja vu.
A consultant representing who asked not to be identified pitched the idea to Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart, whose office then punted the proposal over to Maureen Caddigan, who represents the Potomac District, in which the land for the potential new stadium sits.
The consultant penned in an email to Caddigan:
“The land owner in question is considering donating some, if not most of his personally owned land to the County, but only under the condition that the Stadium is built in Dumfries.
This would be a Major Victory for Prince William County, not to mention your office specifically, while providing all new avenues for increased public participation, notoriety, and increased local employment opportunities that would likely raise local property value and also provide a much larger area of land that could be used to build additional roads and travel infrastructure.”
That landowner who would be willing to “donate some, if not most” of the land is Herbert Campbell, according to county records. The first is 30 acres on Possum Point Road located just inside the Town of Dumfries.
Possum Point, you’ll remember, is the location of a coal-turned gas-burning power plant, and is home to coal ash ponds Dominion Energy has to try to close for years. Residents, local, and state elected officials have all objected to capping the coal ash ponds that contain ash — a toxic byproduct left over after coal was burned at the plant between 1947 and 2003 — leaving it to sit.
If it’s trucked out, the two-lane Possum Point Road is the only road to and from the power plant providing access to ash ponds.
The second site is at least 30 more acres outside of just Dumfries on Route 234, next to Montclair Tabernacle Church.
Last year, a deal to relocate the team from their current home at the county’s government center to Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge went down in flames when the team couldn’t get financial backing from the county government.
Caddigan didn’t support that deal, and she doesn’t support the idea of bringing the team to her district, either.
“The traffic on [Route] 234 is so bad, I couldn’t even entertain this,” Caddigan told Potomac Local.
Potomac Nationals Team Owner Art Silber said he is aware of the proposal but is not familiar with the details. He adds that it’s important to have the support of the district supervisor in which the stadium would go.
Silber told Potomac Local he’s not only looking at another potential site in Prince William County (a location he would not disclose) to build a new stadium, but that many localities to include Fairfax, Loudoun, Alexandria, and a locality in Pennsylvania has indicated interest in his minor league team.
“This is a family-run team, and the prospect of us moving it out of the area isn’t appealing,” said Silber.
He did threaten to move the team last year if negotiations between him and Prince William County Board of Supervisors for the Stonebridge stadium site didn’t go his way.
When it comes to the politics of all this, Caddigan represents the Potomac District which includes Montclair, Four Seasons, and Dumfries and Quantico towns. The towns are also served by their respective governments and town councils.
The Dumfries Town Manager did not return a request for comment for this story.
Perhaps in an attempt to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the consultant included this in his final email to Caddigan:
“With that being said, I humbly request that you reconsider a meeting, perhaps only to entertain such possibilities?
Perhaps gauging the district and community itself in a Public Town Hall would provide deeper insight?
Lack of consideration could be perceived very negatively by the community, and I must stress how important and beneficial this could be to the Dumfries/ Potomac community.”
No such public town hall meeting is scheduled.
