Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 6, 1995 TAG: 9509060063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two recent grants totaling $100,000 will help develop several pearls in an ornamental string envisioned by the Giles County New River Greenway project.
The beneficiaries will be small "pocket parks" at several riverside communities, part of a comprehensive plan that supporters say will serve both environmental and economic needs.
"It's happening now - pretty quickly, actually," said Van Anderson, a Blacksburg landscape architect who works as a consultant for the National Committee for the New River, a nonprofit organization backing the greenway.
Giles County contains 37 miles of the New River, which has been a significant influence throughout the county's history. However, until 1990, when the current planning effort began, there had been little organized thought about how to use the New River for Giles County's future.
"There was an awareness that we need to take steps to protect what we have," said Janet Tuckwiller, county administrator.
Equally strong was the desire to bring revenue to Giles County, where there is a wealth of scenic beauty but few industries.
The greenway proposal calls for river-access parks and a system of hiking and biking trails, which would be advertised to hook recreation seekers from afar.
It also avoids controversy by steering away from uncooperative private landowners. The greenway plan recognizes that, considering the present political climate and the flinty independence of Giles County residents, any move toward taking land "would be self-defeating," Anderson said.
"The intent is to draw the whole county together on this. Strictly voluntary, all the way."
Consequently, travelers along the greenway will be using the river or existing roadways. There are plans to develop several off-road trails, but only on land that's already in public ownership such as the Army Corps of Engineers property near Glen Lyn.
Some grumbling has been heard from landowners, Tuckwiller said. Greenway supporters acknowledge the county's Board of Supervisors has been slow to accept the idea.
But the greenway has moved ahead because of its sensitivity to landowners and its willingness to involve citizens in the planning process, she added.
A measure of the greenway's progress occurred last month when the county accepted a $50,000 grant from a foundation operated by Giles County's largest employer, the Hoescht-Celanese Corp.
Half of that grant will be used to acquire and develop land for a pocket park near Bluff City, on the New River's opposite bank from the large Celanese plant. The remainder will be parceled among other proposed greenway parks at Pembroke, Narrows, Rich Creek and Glen Lyn.
The one-acre Pembroke park, to be located beneath the new Virginia 623 bridge under construction, will probably be the greenway's first. Several months ago it received its own $50,000 grant from the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and the park should be completed next year.
"It makes all the difference in the world," Anderson said of the grants. "Up to this point, it's been, 'This sounds really nice. How do we pay for it?'"
Planners decided at the beginning not to depend on local municipal revenue, Anderson said, but to emphasize incentives for partnerships. For example, the Hoescht-Celanese grant will be distributed among several localities to aid in the planning of greenway parks.
The completed greenway is estimated to cost around a half-million dollars, and fund-raising remains a formidable challenge , Anderson said.
But he said pitching the greenway to potential donors will be easier now that Hoescht-Celanese has backed the project and the Pembroke park is progressing.
by CNB