Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993 TAG: 9312130307
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The nine-member council, formed as a result of Christiansburg's 1988 annexation of the area around the New River Valley Mall, suspended operations until it gets some type of response from the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors or the Christiansburg and Blacksburg town councils, according to John Novak, its chairman.
Novak appeared before the three elected bodies earlier this fall to request a budget commitment for next year of $3,000 each.
With a $9,000 budget, Novak said, the council could begin work on an update of the five-year corridor plan and continue its other operations. Those include studies of storm water management and the impact of Alternative 3A, a highway that will pass behind the Market Place shopping center and connect the Blacksburg and Christiansburg bypasses of U.S. 460.
The five-year study, which last was revised in 1990, will cost $12,000 over two years, Novak said.
The corridor council has been a victim of the hard economic times of the early '90s. Though it started out with a budget of $28,000, that figure dropped steadily to the point that Blacksburg is budgeted to contribute $3,000 this year, while Montgomery and Christiansburg are to kick in just $1,000 each.
The success of such an interjurisdictional group depends on how seriously the county and the towns take it and whether they're willing to support it, Novak said.
The council was set up by court order in 1987 and was to have a 20-year life span. Permanently dissolving it would require agreement from all three jurisdictions.
by CNB