THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070659
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
An annexation battle between the town and the county may have finally begun Thursday when the Town Council agreed to parley with the county over land in northern Isle of Wight County near Smithfield's borders.
No specific time or place for the meeting has yet been set, Town Manager Kenneth McLawhon said Thursday night.
The town has been taking a strong look at annexation since a shopping center near the southern end of Smithfield moved into the county and took with it valuable business tax revenue.
Smithfield also has had its eye on a housing development on Virginia Route 10, Waterford Oaks, just across from the new county shopping center. And there has been little doubt that the town would go for the upscale, waterfront housing development, Gatling Pointe, just off Battery Park Road. The development already is into its second phase of expansion.
Other areas identified for possible expansion in Smithfield's comprehensive plan, adopted in 1992, are small areas to the north of town on Business Route 10, just past the meat packing plants that are the business jewels of Smithfield, and an area to the west, along U.S. Route 258.
And recommendations made in the comprehensive plan are exactly what the town would follow, if and when it is ready to move into the county, according to a statement released by the council after an executive session Thursday night with a representative from the Richmond-based law firm of Mays and Valentine.
Smithfield town residents pay real estate taxes to both the town and the county. The county could stand to lose some tax revenue, including business taxes, if the town does decide to annex.
Smithfield last annexed outside its borders in 1978, taking in the subdivisions of Moonefield, Pagan Point, Lake Shore and Jersey Park and commercial development along South Church Street. by CNB