LAND SWAP FOR SCHOOL ENTRANCE OK'D

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1993                   TAG: 9301270140
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
LAND SWAP FOR SCHOOL ENTRANCE OK'D
A swap for a piece of land for a controversial entrance road to a planned new Blacksburg elementary school was approved by the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Monday night.
Because the county is proposing to swap land it already owns for the land needed for a bus-access road, the board will have to hold a public hearing on the proposal.
The hearing will be held Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. in the county courthouse.
The county needs the land owned by Michael S. Kipps for a bus-access road from Cambridge Road in the Haymarket Square town house subdivision. The main car entrance to the school will be located on Prices Fork Road.
In return for Kipps' land the board has proposed swapping him a strip of land - probably at the western edge of the 28-acre school property - that will provide access to Prices Fork Road from property he owns south of the school site.
Last week, several residents in the area of Haymarket Square began circulating a letter asking the county to reconsider the location of the bus entrance on Cambridge Road. They said buses on the road would be a threat to the safety of children walking to the school from Haymarket, Hethwood and other subdivisions in the area.
Susan Bright, one of the leaders of the opposition to the road, said 410 people signed the letter, which she gave to school Superintendent Harold Dodge Tuesday morning.
The letter also expressed residents' opposition to the cutting of a 100-year-old stand of trees for the school. Opponents believe the trees could be used as an outdoor laboratory for the school's pupils.
Supervisor Larry Linkous abstained from voting on the swap because of a conflict of interest. Linkous leases the property where the road would be located from Kipps.
In addition to seeking comment on the land swap, the Feb. 22 hearing will provide a chance for the public to comment on the transfer of several acres of the school property to the town of Blacksburg for a park.
Also Monday night, the supervisors approved application to the Virginia Public School Authority for the purchase of $3 million in general obligation bonds to finance part of the construction of the new school.
The School Board had asked for a $6 million bond sale, which would have paid for the entire school. The board, however, decided to sell only half the bonds this spring to reduce the payment on the bond debt in the 1993-94 school budget.
The remainder of the bonds needed to pay for the school will be sold this fall.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB