Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190532
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
McGraw said he received a complaint from a county landowner to whom Salem had offered $72,000 for 20 acres near the landfill. The landowner, McGraw said, "felt he was being pushed into a decision by Salem."
McGraw said the landowner was told that if he would not sell his property, Salem would take legal steps to condemn it.
"That is exactly what would happen," Salem Mayor James Taliaferro said Monday. "We make an offer, try to buy the property; if they don't sell, the alternative is to proceed with condemnation."
Taliaferro said he and City Manager Randy Smith had discussed the city's landfill plans with county officials. Plans originally included using part of the acreage to bury waste, which would require Roanoke County to rezone the land.
"Initially, the county said yes. Then they reneged on it," Taliaferro said. "There's no question what they're trying to do - squeeze us into going into the regional landfill. But that won't work. We've got 50-60 more years right where we are."
Taliaferro said landfill plans no longer include burying waste on the county property that Salem is trying to acquire from three landowners, but only to acquire the property to control drainage from the county as it comes into the landfill area.
Letters were mailed to three landowners on May 17 with offers to purchase the property. "This property is needed to reroute and improve drainage and surface water as it affects our landfill adjacent to your land," the letter stated. "We don't know yet whether that area is an area we would consider."
Two of the landowners are interested in selling their property, Taliaferro said. The third is refusing to sell.
That landowner, who asked that his name not be used, said Salem's offer was too low and that the property was worth much more.
"I've always been loyal to Salem and still want to be," the landowner said. "If they want the property and they pay me for it, then I'll sell it to them."
McGraw said after Salem officials presented their plans to the county, Administrator Elmer Hodge asked residents about the city's proposal.
"They said they didn't want them [Salem] coming their way," McGraw said. "So we said we wouldn't assist them in this matter. We've got a landfill they can use along with the rest of us for the next 100 years."
Salem is looking at a section of Mowles Spring Park for "continued landfill operations," Smith said. A geotechnical survey - an analysis of the ground - is close to completion.
Preliminary results indicate that the land is suitable, Smith said. Salem uses the Mowles Spring Park landfill primarily to bury ash from the city Solid Waste Disposal/Energy Recovery Plant.
Whether Salem labels its plans correcting drainage control or using the land as a buffer, it qualifies as an expansion, McGraw said.
"It's still an expansion of their landfill, period," McGraw said. If Salem simply wants to use the land for buffer so that it can expand the landfill to the city-county line, "there may not be any way we could resist that, but we'd try," he said.
McGraw said he was upset about the way Salem was trying to acquire the land.
When Roanoke County selected the Smith Gap site for its landfill, "we went through a very lengthy public process that won a national award, and we took a lot of heat from people in Glenvar," McGraw said. "We tried to build a regional landfill, and now Salem's trying to expand theirs into the county.
"If Salem is going to do business this way - and we're looking at the possibility of a second vote on consolidation - I'd think twice about how it handles matters like this," McGraw said.
by CNB