BROWNSVILLE -- Regional, national and international cycling competitions that would draw athletes, sponsors and spectators from around the world.

Conferences, artistic performances and public events that would entice others to pack its 8,000 seats, stay overnight in adjacent hotels and spend money in nearby eateries and reopened, refurbished Main Street shops.

Economic development that would enable struggling Mon Valley communities to improve crumbling roads, enhance under-used parks, bolster school programs and hire more police to combat crime and drugs.

Proponents of a proposed indoor bicycle arena envision these and more benefits for southwestern Pennsylvania if the public velodrome complex rises from the boarded-up heart of this impoverished Fayette County town.

Brownsville borough leaders last week agreed to explore that prospect further by authorizing international real estate development and management firm CB Richard Ellis to seek private funding for a feasibility study. The study is estimated to cost $277,000, including CB Richard Ellis's $29,700 fee for project management and coordination.

Jack Norris, chairman and chief executive officer of CB Richard Ellis Pittsburgh, said it will seek funding from private corporations and foundations but he declined to identify them. He said the firm likely will need about 60 days to determine if it can obtain the money.

The feasibility study, which would take about six months, would determine whether the Snowden Square area in Brownsville's dilapidated Downtown or possibly other sites in the riverfront community will accommodate a publicly owned velodrome and related facilities for elite cyclists and events.

It also would establish whether the velodrome would be a suitable home and year-round training facility for USA Cycling, the national governing body of the sport. USA Cycling is one of several organizations with headquarters in a U.S. Olympic Committee-owned building in Colorado Springs, Colo., that will be torn down next year.

A preliminary report to Brownsville officials contends that the complex could be the long-sought spur for community and economic development in a once-bustling industrial community where a state prison and mental-health agency now are the largest employers.

Brownsville was so strapped for funds in December that its leaders laid off police and municipal workers for several months. Borough police still are not always on duty, prompting residents to pack council's meeting last week to complain about a lack of response to "hoodlums'' who threaten them, damage property and conduct brazen drug sales.

"It's time for people to talk about what could be,'' said Mr. Norris, who said he'd been aware of Brownsville's problems but, until he attended last week's meeting, had not known the extent of residents' fears for their town's future.

"We need a more positive attitude to make things happen.''

Mr. Norris said he is so enthusiastic about the velodrome that he paid for aerial photographs to be taken before the proposed site was obscured by spring foliage. Astorino, the Pittsburgh architecture and design firm, also has worked on the project without compensation for more than a year, he said.

There are 23 velodromes in the United States but only one indoor track, in California, USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said. The preliminary report submitted to Brownsville describes a complex with a 250-meter oval track with stadium seats, a multipurpose infield, a parking garage, offices and meeting rooms to serve an amateur sport that is growing in popularity.

The velodrome also could be used for conferences, conventions, entertainment events and scholastic sports, Mr. Norris said.

Brownsville is a promising site because of its varied terrain and proximity to outdoor trails for road and mountain bikers and a 600-acre park that could be used for BMX events, Mr. Norris said. BMX racing will be an Olympic sport for the first time during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

It's also close to highways, airports and universities, and an easy drive to Pittsburgh and East Coast cities. Velodrome backers also are trying to attract cycling organizations from other countries to train there, Mr. Norris said.

"It would be the center of cycling in this country, like baseball in Williamsport,'' he said.

Other project participants assembled by CB Richard Ellis include consulting engineering firm Pennoni Associates Inc., construction firm P.J. Dick; Schuermann Architects of Muenster, Germany, which specializes in building velodromes and cycling tracks; and several other companies.

USA Cycling is not involved with plans or funding for the proposed Brownsville velodrome, Mr. Lee said. But organization officials met with and sent a relocation proposal to CB Richard Ellis and other backers after they approached the cycling body last year, he said.

"There are several communities in the United States [that] are trying to relocate USA Cycling to their communities and Brownsville is one of those,'' Mr. Lee said.

"We are not actively looking to relocate,'' he said, explaining that USA Cycling has an option to move to new offices in Colorado Springs. "But if someone comes along with a package that would be of benefit to our organization, we would certainly look at it.''

In November, USA Cycling Chief Executive Officer Stephen C. Johnson also sent a letter to David Durbin of CB Richard Ellis' Charleston, W.Va., office, saying his organization was "extremely excited'' about the plan and "very interested in developing a closer relationship'' with Brownsville and Pennsylvania.

Members of Brownsville's council, Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations discussed the velodrome proposal for months before council authorized the search for funding for the feasibility study. The vote stipulated that CB Richard Ellis could not seek funding from state agencies from which the town has obtained or is likely to seek future grants.

"There will be no cost to the borough, so what is there to lose?'' Council President Jack Lawver said. "Anybody who comes to elected officials with an idea, we sit down and listen. The thing you think has the last chance of happening might be the one that puts us over the top.''

Mr. Lawver, Mayor Lewis Hosler and other borough leaders acknowledged that residents have raised plenty of questions about the proposal because they feared a repeat of past disappointments.

Since the early 1990s, Brownsville has been ensnared in disputes over unpaid taxes and building code fines with Ernest and Marilyn Liggett of Churchill. The couple bought more than 100 properties but failed to follow through on plans to develop their holdings.

"We've seen these multimillion-dollar [proposals] over the years. You get a little bit skeptical,'' Mr. Lawver said.

Some residents repeated those questions at last week's meeting, asking for more information and requesting a town meeting about the velodrome. Others nodded their heads or applauded when Brownsville Area School Board member Stella Broadwater declared: "I want to thank you for the glimmer of hope.''

"There's not one person in Brownsville who's against progress,'' said Fayette County Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink, who said residents of Brownsville and adjacent communities had contacted her for answers about the project. "They want to be informed. That's not too much to ask.''

Mr. Norris' frustration was palpable, however, when he told the audience that the Liggetts are not involved with the project and own only a few of about 30 properties that it would affect. "There is no Liggett,'' he said.

After the meeting, Mr. Norris said Ernest Liggett initially approached his firm about managing properties in Brownsville. That led to Brownsville being suggested as a possible location for a velodrome more than a year ago during discussions between Mr. Durbin and people he knows at USA Cycling, Mr. Norris said.

But Mr. Norris said his firm severed ties with Mr. Liggett after learning of his conflicts with Brownsville. He appeared to be exasperated that the question arose last week, and he warned the audience: "We can't keep putzing around.''

"You get to points in time in a sequence of events where you just have to do things. If we can show it makes sense economically to do it and the ingredients are there that it makes sense for USA Cycling to move, the rest is pretty easy,'' he said later.

"[There would be] hotels, dormitories, and all those historic buildings would have real tenants. It would take little to change that Downtown if an economic generator was there.''