Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 21, 1993 TAG: 9307210141
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Short
H.T. Bowling, a Radford contractor, and Homer Hurst, a retired Virginia Tech professor, have offered to donate 10 acres each along the proposed trail for recreational use.
Anderson & Associates, the Blacksburg engineering firm that is working on a design of the trail along the old Huckleberry rail line, is planning a small park with picnic tables and shelters on the donated land, said Mark Cates, chairman of People Advocating the Huckleberry.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing Monday night on an application to the Virginia Department of Transportation for a grant that would help pay for construction of the trail.
Volunteers involved with developing the Huckleberry Trail have prepared a $522,000 budget for its completion in five stages.
The state grant would pay $402,536, or 77 percent of the project. The rest of the money is being raised locally.
Cates said trail supporters believe they have a good chance of winning the Transportation Department grant despite stiff competition.
The trail is fully designed and local financial support has been strong, factors that work in the county's favor.
A request by James Smith to operate a truck terminal on Elliott Creek Road, an item that also was on the Planning Commission's agenda tonight, has been withdrawn. The request drew objections from neighbors in a public hearing last month.
by CNB