Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 9, 1993 TAG: 9302090261
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
BLACKSBURG SAYS NO TO ROAD SWAP
Forget swapping one road right of way for another at the new Blacksburg elementary school site, the Blacksburg Town Council advised the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday night.Supervisors also held a public hearing on applicants for the Christiansburg slot on the county School Board.
To acquire a piece of land needed for a bus driveway into the new school, the supervisors have proposed trading a 50-foot right of way along the western border of the 28-acre school site near Hethwood on Prices Fork Road.
Michael Kipps would get the roadway to his farmland south of the school property in return for a right of way for a bus access from Cambridge Road in Hethwood into the back of the school.
Supervisors Larry Linkous of Blacksburg excused himself from the discussion because he had a conflict of interest. Linkous holds a 10-year lease on the Kipps property and the first right of refusal should Kipps decide to sell it.
Some residents of Hethwood subdivisions have objected to the Cambridge Road bus driveway, but Hedgepeth said the council, as a whole, was not opposed to it.
What the council opposed was the trading of the right of way from Prices Fork Road to Kipps for the bus access, Hedgepeth said. He listed several reasons, among them:
The proposed roadway from Kipps' property to Prices Fork Road is too close to the proposed automobile entrance for the new school and might jeopardize state road funding for the town.
The trade would take some of the land proposed for a park and make it impossible to construct soccer fields on the property as the town had planned.
The proposed road into Kipps' property would be a safety hazard to the school and to the park that Blacksburg plans to build next to the school.
Council members see the proposed corridor at the side of the school property as eventually being used as access to a subdivision where Kipps now has farmland. They fear traffic along the road would threaten the park.
But some supervisors doubted that the swap would hurt the park project.
Supervisors also said that a big reason they supported the swap was that it would save the county the money needed to buy the property outright or to condemn it.
They said taking the bus access without offering Kipps another right of way in return would damage the value of his property and make the bus road cost even more. But council members argued that there are other ways to get to the property, including from Merrimac Road.
The supervisors will hold a public hearing on the proposed land swap at the beginning of their Feb. 22 meeting.
Several citizens turned out for a hearing on seven applicants for the Christiansburg seat on the School Board. The supervisors will name a replacement on Feb. 22 for Daniel Schneck, the School Board's former chairman, who resigned in December over the flap about Christian names for school holidays.
Cynthia Jennison, former executive director of the New River Valley Hospice; Mike Sowder, a former School Board member; Anne Greene, a school volunteer and seller of children's books; and Robert Anderson, founder of the Straight Street teen center, all received strong support from speakers.
Also drawing support from two speakers was David Moore, an employee of Corning Glass and the only black applicant. Mark Helms, a PTA volunteer and husband of a former board member, spoke on his own behalf.