MIAMI -- For the past five years, the Florida Marlins have tried to get the state Legislature to help fund a new stadium but have struck out every time. Now, there's a new stadium plan in place that just might get the go-ahead.

State Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, is the main sponsor of the Marlins stadium bill in the House, where the leadership is finally inclined to make a sizable contribution -- about $30 million.

"I think it's looking as good as it ever has," he told Local 10's Michael Putney on Wednesday.

That's in part because of the fact that first-year Gov. Charlie Crist has said if a new deal is structured to his liking, he could support it when the legislative session begins.

"Well, that never hurts," Lopez-Cantera said.

The proposed stadium would be shoehorned into a 9-acre site bordered by Northwest Third Street to the north, Miami Police Department headquarters and Interstate 95 to the west, a metrorail track to the east and the government center to the south.

If the stadium were built at the proposed site, some things would have to go, including a city park where home plate likely would be and a child-care center. That didn't sit too well with two of the child-care center employees when told of the news.

Nor did it sit well with one lawmaker who questions why taxpayers' dollars would go towards a $490 million stadium when public works projects like storm sewers and lift stations or meals for the elderly might be sacrificed because of falling sales tax revenues.

"We're talking about property taxes and we're talking about insurance, and here we're not funding things that will help protect those homes," state Rep. Ronald Brise, D-Miami, said. "And then when you compare that to a stadium, I think we're dealing with apples and caviar."

At least one obstacle to the proposed stadium site has been solved. Chief Judge Joe Farina told Putney an alternative site has been found for a children's courthouse, which is supposed to be built where the stadium might end up.