Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 18, 1995 TAG: 9505180016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
But to reach that future may require that the communities cooperate in a sizable investment - estimated at $475 million - in 60 projects ranging from education, manufacturing and transportation to preservation of natural resources and enhancement of the culture.
After three years of talk, analysis and work, the New River Valley Planning District Commission on Wednesday released the vision it sees for the region in the year 2020.
The vision is sufficiently broad, but the latter half of the 30-plus page document lists specific goals such as:
Enhancing early-childhood educational programs and establishing school-business partnerships.
Developing the valley's industrial parks and establishing a business incubator to help industries.
Building greenways and bikeways, completing the Huckleberry Trail and building a bridge from Radford to the New River Industrial Park.
Hiring a regional marketing and tourism director to coordinate festivals, fairs and tourism efforts, and build regional visitors' centers across the valley.
Expand housing opportunities and enhance mortgage assistance programs.
"We really envision this as a tool to energize the citizens of the New River Valley," said Daria Dittmer, a regional planner with the commission.
While the commission can be a clearinghouse for the projects, "we're asking for a lot of commitment" from others, Project Manager Holly Lesko said. Champions must step forward, but "our plan wasn't to develop a document that we couldn't achieve."
Many of the projects listed are on the tables of existing agencies, and those groups will have to continue to work for their fruition. "These projects are truly the projects of the region," said the commission's executive director, Dave Rundgren.
Work on the document began three years ago in response to the surge of layoffs at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. Since 1989, the arsenal has laid off more than 3,000 employees, with more to come, it said last week. Those jobs cost the valley's citizens more than $34 million in direct earnings and have caused ripple effects that have led to other job losses, the report says.
In 1993, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded the commission $197,800, which was partially matched by local agencies and the state, to plan a strategy for economic recovery. The document - including a multimedia version and one on the Blacksburg Electronic Village - is that strategy, although its scope ranges beyond just adapting to the arsenal's woes.
Besides listing priorities for the region and complementing similar efforts by the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance and the New Century Council, it also will help achieve a further level of respectability whenever local agencies go hunting for federal grant and loan monies, Lesko said.
Bankers, architects, educators and arsenal officials attended the document's unveiling at the Radford Best Western Inn.
New River Community College President Ed Barnes said the document reminded him of the college's graduations. "They never look like they're going to work, but they always do."
by CNB