ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 9, 1996 TAG: 9612090004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Not long from now, people driving down North Main Street will look at the much anticipated Technology Park development and think about how far Franklin County has come.
There will be a new YMCA and a state-of-the-art technology center for eighth-and ninth-graders. The county has plans to build a new health and human services building there.
The park is a bold step toward wiping away the stereotypical view of Franklin County: mountain folk, moonshine and Whitey Taylor's stock car speedway.
In fact, the technology center will serve as a regional training site for teachers looking to brush up on the latest in computer learning - not exactly Sour Mash 101.
Groundbreakings for the YMCA and the technology center have already taken place. County and town officials have shaken hands and made speeches about the joint cooperation that made the park a reality.
But what they haven't talked about is one of the main reasons that the North Main site was chosen for the project: A 1961 Rocky Mount annexation agreement that stood to create quite a problem for the current town council.
The 1961 agreement expanded Rocky Mount's boundaries from less than a mile to more than five miles and doubled its population. It also called for the town to upgrade the roads in the Compton subdivision, then an upcoming section of road beds and houses off North Main Street.
The town never did.
The agreement also called for the town to provide water and sewer service to the subdivision, which is located smack dab in the middle of what will be the technology park.
The town didn't get around to doing that, either.
Over the years, the council members responsible for the agreement died, as did many of the Compton subdivision property owners originally affected by the annexation.
But back in 1990, Councilman Arnold Dillon, who remembered attending an auction of the subdivision lots as a boy, started to raise concerns about the situation.
He knew the town could be subject to a lawsuit that could force it to pay for the improvements spelled out in the annexation agreement.
His concerns were valid. About three years ago, some of the Compton property heirs hired a lawyer - William Hopkins Sr. of Roanoke - and were considering a suit against the town.
Several local developers were also aware of the annexation agreement. They knew that if they could get control of the Compton land, they could then force the town to upgrade the infrastructure. Then, with that cost out of the way, they could sell building sites for a good profit.
Town Council found out that it would cost about $2 million to honor the terms of the agreement - not a bill it wanted to pay.
Council came up with an idea. Why not buy the land and market it as the site for a new Wal-Mart store that was coming to Franklin County?
Wal-Mart, however, chose the Virginia 40 corridor east of town.
So, the town went to plan B: Push the property for the technology park development.
If Franklin County bought in as a partner, the town could reduce its expenditures, and, with several lots to market to private businesses, the town might actually break even or come out ahead - saving its taxpayers a considerable amount of money.
And that's what happened.
After buying numerous plots of land and several houses located within the 60-acre property boundary, the town ended up spending about $1.3 million.
The town got some of the money back when Franklin County paid $197,168 for its share of the parcels for the YMCA and the technology center, which are scheduled to be finished in the next year. The county has an option on another piece of adjoining land, where it plans to build a health and human services building.
The town also owns additional tracts of open land near the development that it can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Dillon estimates that the town will probably end up spending $500,000 or less on the project.
"We took what could have been a massive problem and turned it into something that's going to help revitalize this community," he said. "And we saved taxpayer money."
The town also did itself another big favor. Council is now discussing an annexation attempt of a section of the Virginia 40 corridor that includes Wal-Mart and any future development around it.
With the unresolved 1961 agreement hanging over its head, the chances of another annexation could have been severely hampered.
"The town had to buy that land," said Wayne Angell, the chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.
Angell was involved in the closed-door talks with council members that resulted in the joint approval of the technology park project.
He says, that although he was aware of the annexation agreement and the fact that services were never extended to the Compton subdivision, the specifics surrounding the property were never discussed during negotiations.
Angell said that doesn't bother him.
"To me, it seems to be a good deal for everybody," he said.
Hopkins, the lawyer for the Compton heirs, said, "It wasn't a bad deal for us, but we sure didn't come out as good as the town did."
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