Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990 TAG: 9004190578
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
Here in Blacksburg, often the thorniest issue for town officials is the need for economic growth set against the preservation of its small-town quality of life.
How do the six candidates for Town Council stand on that issue? With all the agility and balancing skills of tightrope walkers.
Asked at a candidates forum this month whether they would favor development over existing neighborhoods, their answers were peppered with terms like "compromise," "careful study" and "whatever is best for the town as a whole."
Following is a closer look at the candidates' views on development and other issues. The candidates are incumbents Joyce Lewis, Al Leighton and Lewis Barnett and challengers Ray Chisholm and Frank Teske Sr. Roger Hedgepeth is running unopposed for mayor.
\ Joyce Lewis takes her own advice when it comes to politics. The former chairwoman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, who helped guide GOP candidates to various elected posts, started campaigning door-to-door last week in her Town Council re-election bid.
So far, she hasn't heard many complaints from citizens about the way things are going. "They feel they're getting their money's worth," she said.
Lewis, who has served one term, said she wants to continue steering the town on its positive course, although there may be rough waters ahead.
Finding the balance between developers' interests and those of neighborhoods is never easy, Lewis said. "Citizens don't realize the tax rate could easily double without the business resources." At the same time, she said, "If you break down the integrity of neighborhoods, you've lost your community spirit."
Blacksburg's development standards are not too high, she said, although today's slow economy might warrant relaxing the commercial sign ordinance.
"I think we hear it enough that I think it wouldn't hurt to look at it again. Maybe it can be OK to loosen up the requirements."
She has mixed feelings about whether the town should annex the U.S. 460 corridor between here and Christiansburg, which is being developed under less strict standards than Blacksburg's. Although annexation is expensive, the appearance of Blacksburg's southern entrance is very important, she said.
"We take pride in how our town looks. We spend a good deal of our citizens' money making sure it's an attractive town."
Lewis said her presence on council provides a balance because she is not affiliated with Virginia Tech. Five of the seven current members are university employees.
One of her goals is to bring Tech and the town into a more cooperative relationship.
Lewis, 56, is a secretary for VRA Inc., an aerospace engineering research and consulting firm of which her husband, Clark, is president.
\ Excessive taxes and bureaucratic delays are challenger Ray Chisholm's main targets in his bid for a seat on Town Council.
Blacksburg takes too long to review developers' site plans and act on public projects, such as a downtown parking deck and various street extensions, Chisholm said.
As for taxes, Chisholm charged that Town Council raises them in reaction to businesses moving out of town. Examples are the cigarette tax and meals tax imposed over the last several years. He also blasted the 50 percent increase in utility taxes proposed in the 1990-91 budget.
"An anti-business attitude is forcing them to raise all these taxes," he said. "Pretty soon they're going to have to tax the homes - raise the real estate tax."
Chisholm said the town should expand its economic base and bring in companies with business ties to Southwest Virginia, such as The Pittston Co., to reduce the reliance on taxes for revenue. He also said the town is economically too dependent on Tech.
"If we have more of a base, we aren't in so much trouble when students leave."
Further, Chisholm, a planning commission member for two years, said he would lobby state legislators for a subsidy to make up for revenue lost because Virginia Tech, which covers roughly one-third of the town, is tax exempt.
He supports the Two Town Trolley as a means for low-income citizens to get around, but vowed to push for bus service that circles the campus and downtown, which he said he's tried to get for years.
Chisholm often notes that the majority of current council members are Tech employees and lack a solid business background. "All they can do is rubber stamp" policies, he said. "I hope that I could bring more experience to council in dealing with business matters."
Chisholm, 44, is a professional engineer and has owned Softcover Bookstore in downtown Blacksburg for five years.
\ Lewis Barnett freely admits he's tenacious when it comes to his favorite issues.
Among the one-time council member's priorities are establishing an integrated walkway and bikeway system throughout Blacksburg and into Montgomery County, a proposed indoor swimming pool, and better recreation facilties and programs for senior citizens.
"If we're going to be a retirement community and be taken seriously, I think we need to improve our facilities," Barnett said.
The swimming pool proposal has been brewing for many years, which some critics say is typical of how long it takes for town officials to approve projects.
But Barnett, a planning commission member for 17 years before being elected to council in 1986, said some things deserve careful attention.
"If you're going to do it, you want to do it right," said Barnett. "This land has been here for billions of years, and if it's going to take another two months to design properly, I think it's a good investment of time."
He also rejected the criticism that Tech employees who serve on town government bodies have a conflict of interest. Barnett, assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, said he abstains from votes that may present such a conflict, such as when Blacksburg Transit service was extended to faculty and staff.
Like others on council, Barnett said development standards in town are not too strict, but reflect what the majority of citizens want. "I think they like the way the town looks now, and would like to see it continue."
He said the time is not right for annexing the 460 corridor, but in response to a question about consolidation of Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Montgomery County at a candidates' forum recently, Barnett had this to say:
"The future is now. We should consolidate as quickly as possible."
Barnett, 56, has worked at Tech since 1963 as an assistant professor of biochemistry, and since 1984 as assistant dean.
\ Frank Teske Sr. wanted Blacksburg voters to have a choice come May 1, so the former council member decided to return to politics.
Teske served on council from 1970 to 1972, as well as stints on the Blacksburg Planning Commission and the New River Valley Planning District Commission.
In his bid for council this year, Teske has zeroed in on the problems the town faced in the early '70s that he said are still problems today - the need for a parking garage downtown, the delay in extending Clay and Country Club streets, and the lack of sewer service to many residents in north and west Blacksburg who were annexed in 1972.
And now the town faces other problems, Teske said, pointing to the decline in retail and industrial growth. "Businesses are leaving us every day, and what are we doing to stop them?"
Teske said the town could offer incentives to prospective and existing businesses, such as paving access roads or giving them free water service for a few months.
He also said a parking authority, separate from town government, would speed up the downtown parking project.
Teske was one of the prime proponents in the early '70s of the consumer utility tax, which he said spread the burden of paying for town government among more citizens. He said he favors the utility tax increase proposed in the 1990-91 budget as a way to raise funds.
On development issues, Teske said, "Some developers do a good job, others try to cut corners." So, while Blacksburg must ensure orderly growth, some landscaping and parking space requirements are too restrictive, he said.
Teske, 75, taught health and physical education at Tech where he was a wrestling coach for 30 years. He now works part time at the Tech ticket office.
\ "I'm a damn Yankee," council member Al Leighton recently said, "but I think I've been converted."
After serving 16 years on Town Council, the Maine native is not ready to turn away from public service in this Southern town.
In seeking his fifth term, Leighton said he wanted to continue guiding Blacksburg's growth in an orderly manner.
"Generally speaking, developers and business people like to have the easiest way out in getting things done," Leighton said.
But most citizens "like this town the way it is," he said, adding that he sees no need to reform the town's zoning laws and development requirments other than changes to keep up with the times.
Responding to charges from the two challengers that the town is slow to review site plans or start major projects, Leighton said that officials must take time to plan for the future.
In addition, he said, other government agencies such as Tech, the Virginia Department of Transportation or Montgomery County are often involved in the town's projects, which complicates matters.
Leighton said the current retail slump in Blacksburg was bound to happen with the opening of the New River Valley Mall and Market Place in Christiansburg. He is confident, however, that business will pick up in a few years, especially with the help of Blacksburg's economic development coordinator, Doug Eckel, who was hired in 1987.
Leighton, a member of the Route 460/114 Corridor Advisory Planning Council, is also optimistic that the county and its two towns will agree on recently proposed development standards for the corridor.
He said he doesn't think a Blacksburg annexation of that corridor is feasible any time soon.
As for the citizens who were annexed in 1972 but have no sewer service, Leighton said it's not economically feasible for the town to extend sewer lines into those rural areas.
For now, extending service is up to potential developers, although the town eventually will assume that responsibility, he said.
Leighton, 61, is professor of genetics and physiology in the poultry science department at Tech.
\ Mayor Roger Hedgepeth, who happens to be trained as an engineer, said he wants to create a bridge - which is why he is seeking his third term as mayor.
Not a bridge of steel and concrete, but one made of diplomacy and politics.
Hedgepeth, who has served a total of 10 years on council, said he considered ending his council career this year. Instead, he decided he could help guide Blacksburg through a crucial period which began nearly three years ago with the change in leadership at Tech.
Further, Hedgepeth said, changes in Montgomery County's growth and in the state's government greatly influence the future of this town.
"Blacksburg is not going about its business in a vaccuum," the mayor said. "External factors are major as far as determining what we do down the road."
He said his ties to leaders at Tech, in the county and in the state and U.S. legislatures, as well as with business leaders, give him a broad perspective as he watches out for Blacksburg's interests.
Revenues in town will likely remain flat over the next several years, but Hedgepeth is optimistic that growth will accelerate.
In the meantime, he said, "Tech's enrollment will have to grow a little, and the retail will have to turn around, and we have to try to keep a grip on all the building."
He said that since he helped lay the old plans, and has ideas about new plans, he can help bring Blacksburg through the rough time.
Hedgepeth, 60, has been coordinator for cooperative education at Tech for 20 years.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB