Baseball opposition petition comes up 14 names short

UPDATE: The opposition group has submitted 72 more signatures to the city clerk. Ben McCoy, co-organizer of the petition drive, said members of the group submitted the additional signatures to the city clerk Friday afternoon.

Original post:

A petition drive to force the issue of a taxpayer-funded baseball stadium onto a ballot failed to get the required signatures, by 14 names.

But the opposition group can submit more and there is no time requirement for doing that, city attorney Bill Wolak said.

?They have to make up the deficiency,? Wolak said. The signatures would have to be turned first into the city clerk who would then send them to the board of elections for verification.? ?There is no time frame on them?

Marvin McFadyen, board of elections director, said Friday the board had verified 2,828 signatures but the group needed 2,842 to be successful. The group had turned in about 3,900 signatures.

McFadyen said some of the signatures were from people who don?t live within the city and about 200 to 250 were duplicate names.

Since February, the city has been in talks with the Atlanta Braves and Mandalay Baseball over a proposed stadium that would bring a minor league team to Wilmington. A public-private partnership for a $35 million has been proposed but city leaders say it puts too much of a burden on the taxpayers. The opposition group believes no public dollars should be used for a stadium.

Co-organizer of the petition drive, Josh Fulton, told the StarNews:

?I?m very surprised,? Fulton said. ?Since we?re so close I want to give (the Board of Elections) a call and see if we can turn in just a couple more.? Fulton said he had talked to a few friends this week who said they still had petition forms they needed to turn in.

Ben McCoy, who also headed the petition drive, has been trying to call the board of elections to see what the next step is. He said the group has received 100 to 200 more signatures since turning over the petition to the city.

McCoy said he doesn?t know what the next step is and if they will be allowed to submit additional signatures.

?The law is so ambiguous it doesn?t really say what to do next,? he said.

Staff Writers Brian Freskos and Shannan Bowen contributed to this report.

Check back later for more on this developing story.

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