Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511200018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Stewart could simply declare in open session that he has a direct interest, but he will vote because the measure either affects the public generally or affects an occupation or group of people to which he belongs, said County Attorney Roy Thorpe.
Those criteria are part of the state's conflict of interest law. Stewart could not be reached for comment Friday, but last week said he was unsure whether he would vote.
The county Board of Supervisors meets at 7 p.m. Monday on the third floor of the county courthouse in Christiansburg. The board is to vote on the state Transportation Department's intent to acquire 140 acres in the county's Agricultural and Forestal DIstrict 7 between Wilson Creek and Den Creek.
The board must decide whether the state's proposed taking conflicts with county policy - in this case the preservation of agricultural and forest land through the district - and whether the proposed taking is necessary to serve the public in the most economical and practical manner.
This week, at least 140 people showed up for a public hearing on the issue, most of whom stood to show their opposition to the smart highway. One local Sierra Club official also presented a petition she said included the names of 717 people opposed to the road.
The last time the issue came up for a county vote, on Feb. 17, 1992, Stewart declared a personal interest before casting a vote that favored the smart highway. Before that, in a March 2, 1990, vote, Stewart was one of two supervisors against the road. Yet in the board's first vote on the matter - before a specific route had been identified - he joined a unanimous April 10, 1989, vote in favor of a "direct link" between Blacksburg and Roanoke Valley.
In a memo released this week, Stewart appears to be against the road again, primarily because of the affect the road would have on the site of the former Montgomery White Sulphur Springs resort, a 19th-century spa. Stewart owns 424 acres off Virginia 641 (Den Hill Road) that includes the resort site. That parcel would be bisected by the road. The road will pass within 425 feet of a Confederate cemetery on the former resort grounds, smart road planning maps show.
"I believe it would be a terrible mistake for this area to be transformed into a smart highway," Stewart wrote. "Further, I do not believe the proposed merits of the smart road outweigh the historical significance that this site represents."
Smart road planners chose a southern alignment for the road between Virginia 723 (Ellett Road) and Virginia 641 in part to avoid the former resort site. The cemetery, which includes as many as 150 unmarked graves, sits 200 feet north of the road's proposed right-of-way boundary.
Stewart's change of heart would appear to mean there will be at least three votes against the smart highway, if Supervisors Nick Rush and Jim Moore oppose it as they did in 1992. One more vote would constitute a majority against the project and would force the state to appeal the decision to the Montgomery Circuit Court before it could go forward. Such a turn of events would be a political about-face that could delay the state's plans to advertise grading on the project by July, start work by October and open the first two miles of two-lane highway for testing new safety technology by 1998 at a cost of $27.1 million. The road, with a total estimated price tag of $103 million, is to be built in stages between Blacksburg and Interstate 81 over as many as 15 years.
State officials have said that a delay on the smart road might affect the schedule for the county's top road-improvement priority, Alternative 3A, the proposed connector between the Blacksburg and Christiansburg bypasses of U.S. 460. That's because planners expect the smart highway to handle up to 25,000 cars a day by the time its completed. Without the smart road in place, Alternative 3A's links with Interstate 81, Peppers Ferry Road and U.S. 460 business in Christiansburg and Blacksburg would have to be redesigned, planners say.
For now, work on the $135.3 million Alternative 3A bypass connector and extension is to be put out to bid in 1998, begin in 1999 and finish in 2001, though planners say they may be able to push that schedule ahead by six months.
by CNB