TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
Get Below Surface On Rays' Stadium
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Published: April 12, 2008
Gov. Charlie Crist has already endorsed the Tampa Bay Rays' proposed new waterfront stadium in downtown St. Petersburg. And it is easy to understand the $450 million facility's appeal.
The stadium, on the site of Al Lang Field, would enjoy a stunning vista beyond the outfield - Tampa Bay.
But the Rays need to show that the bay will be treated as more than just a backdrop. It's troubling that the plans so far reveal little about how the water body will be treated. Indeed, the project would require filling some bay bottom, hardly desirable.
The Agency for Bay Management, an alliance of agencies and organizations concerned about Tampa Bay, recently sent the St. Petersburg City Council a laundry list of concerns about the proposal, including stormwater runoff, disruption in circulation, shading's effect on the seagrasses and the impacts on the nearby marina and its boaters.
The Rays have provided few answers. As the Agency for Bay Management Chair Robert Kersteen wrote, "It was very disconcerting to learn that, while the Rays organization is aware of a number of potential impacts that the proposed ballpark may have on the adjacent waterway and Tampa Bay, virtually no analysis of these impacts has yet been conducted to determine the magnitude of the impact nor of the measures necessary to mitigate these impacts."
The Rays should demonstrate that their ballpark will not only showcase Tampa Bay, but safeguard it above and below the surface.
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