CRAIG LANDOWNERS SEEING HOPEF AFTER MEETING WITH PARK SERVICE

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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993                   TAG: 9303040352
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: NEW CASTLE                                LENGTH: Medium
CRAIG LANDOWNERS SEEING HOPEF AFTER MEETING WITH PARK SERVICE
Several Craig County landowners think they see a glimmer of hope in their battle with the National Park Service over acquisition of land to widen the Appalachian Trail right of way.
But the landowners and the government still are mostly in a standoff.
Park Service representatives have agreed to restudy their proposals, which so far have been unacceptable to the landowners who are fearful of losing their best farmland.
"They were more cooperative than ever before in this latest meeting," said Alan R. Lugar, one of the landowners. "They seemed more willing to listen to us."
The Park Service representative who was the chief negotiator in a meeting with the landowners last week echoed Lugar's hope.
"I'm sure we will come up with an agreement that will be satisfactory to both parties," Donald T. King said by telephone from his office in Martinsburg, W.Va.
King is the Park Service's scenic-land acquisition officer for the Appalachian Trail.
He would not discuss details of his negotiations with landowners but did say the Park Service now is working toward an easement to land it wants rather than outright purchase.
The purpose of the acquisition, he said, is to preserve rural aspects along the trail that runs for 2,144 miles between Georgia and Maine.
Landowners turned down a previous easement offer from the Park Service because it was too restrictive and gave no guarantees. Lugar says his counteroffer to the Park Service covers what both sides want - guarantees that neither side will lose.
"What they are mostly worried about is that I will subdivide my farm," Lugar said.
He said his counteroffer was that he would give the Park Service a written guarantee that he would not subdivide the land in question and would give the Park Service first option to buy at an appraised value if he ever decided to sell.
That would protect both sides, Lugar said. He could have full use of the land for farming and the Appalachian Trail's scenery in that area would be assured.
The part of Lugar's land in question is 114 acres off Virginia 42 in the Level Green section of Sinking Creek Valley. He said 99 percent of it is clear and the tract is the center of his 300-head beef cattle operation.
Lugar said the Park Service is interested in preserving the rural aspects of about 50 acres of it. acreage that contains his barn, holding pen, a creek, watering pond and right of way for access to the highway. What would be left, he said, would be a steep slope with no road frontage.
Lugar is one of three landowners in Craig with land along the Appalachian Trail. Another is Ralph Bradley, who also is awaiting an acceptable offer.
Glenn Oliver, however, was one of the first to deal with the Park Service and eventually lost in a condemnation suit in federal court in Roanoke.
OLiver said he lost 21 of his best acres. The price he is to be paid has not been determined, and Oliver said he hopes the court decides on a price that will fully cover his loss.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB