Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 17, 1990                   TAG: 9007170283
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Medium

PARKWAY EXTENSION OPPOSED

The vote put on record Franklin County's growing unease with plans to build the proposed river parkway from the Blue Ridge Parkway to Hardy Ford. The Franklin supervisors fear the scenic road would add more traffic to the narrow, twisting roads from Roanoke to Smith Mountain Lake.

Payne opposes extending the parkway beyond the Explore entrance partly because most of his constituents in the Hardy area oppose the road.

In recent years, the Franklin board had lent qualified support to the river parkway and Explore in hopes the two projects would lead to federal and state money to improve access to Smith Mountain Lake. But that support evaporated in recent months as it became evident that River Parkway supporters - faced with escalating cost estimates - would have no extra money to help roads in neighboring localities.

In other business, the board reviewed the legal obstacles to expanding the public landfill that now takes up a corner of the county's recreation park.

The U.S. Park Service has said the county cannot expand the landfill because the entire 425-acre park has been designated for recreational purposes. The designation was attached to the land in 1975 when Franklin County accepted a $170,000 federal grant to develop the park, according to Park Service officials.

Jerry L. Cassidy of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which administers U.S. Park Service grants, told the supervisors that acceptance of the grant was similar to a contract.

The only way to nullify the contract would be for Franklin County to replace the proposed landfill tract with land of equal monetary and recreational value, said Cassidy, grants administrator with the state Division of Planning and Recreational Resources.

Cassidy said the county would not necessarily have to buy land. It could designate county property now used for recreational purposes. Final approval of the land swap would be made by the U.S. Park Service, he said. The process could take 18 months, Cassidy said.

The Board of Supervisors delayed action to give the Park Service an opportunity to document its contention that the county agreed to designate the entire 425-acre site - located south of Rocky Mount - for recreational purposes.

County Administrator Richard Huff II said the county does not have any record of any such agreement. "We're just asking for a copy of that contract so we can determine what our obligations are," Huff said.

Franklin County is working under a two-year deadline for finding and permitting a new landfill site. Last month, the state Department of Waste Management rejected as too risky the county's plan to reuse its current landfill by placing a protective liner over already-buried garbage.

The most inexpensive alternative appears to be moving to a new site within the recreation park that is inaccessible to park facilities. The county is planning to conduct engineering studies of the site.