Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 31, 1990 TAG: 9005310068
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
But they didn't have to say much.
The board dropped the idea of installing a sewer system in the five subdivisions surrounding Dublin after a majority of residents said they didn't want one. The neighborhoods included Rolling Hills, Vista, Orchard Hills, Highland Park I and Highland Park II.
"You mean it's not going to bother us anymore?" asked Rudolph O'dell, who has spoken against the system and the fees that would go with it at several board meetings over the past few months. At one meeting, O'dell and other residents spoke against the project for almost two hours.
O'dell left the meeting Monday night followed by his neighbors after Supervisor Jack Vaughn made a motion that the board "forget it."
"I love it," Sarah Roop, a resident of Highland Park, said after the meeting. "I'm really pleased with the decision. If we don't speak up, they'll give us what they think we want."
Roop said she and other residents aren't opposed to the sewer system so much as the cost. "We just can't afford it."
Only about 60 percent of the residents answered a May survey on the system. Of those responding, 63.5 percent where against the system and 36.5 percent were for it.
The survey was the second conducted in the area. The county also had several meetings where residents said they did not want the sewer hook-up.
"We have wrestled with this thing long enough," Supervisor Bruce Fariss said. "I think people down the road will need the system, but we've done two surveys at different times and the majority are against it - let's be done with it."
Supervisor Jerry White agreed. "It's time to put it on a shelf and move on," he said. "We have enough other projects to work on without pushing this one."
In other business, the board accepted a $71,000 state grant to aid in the restoration of the courthouse. The fate of the courthouse, which was gutted by fire in December, has not yet been determined.
"This grant means the money is available - we are not required to spend it," County Administrator Joe Morgan said.
The board also agreed to take under advisement a request from Dublin Town Council that the board appoint members to a negotiation committee to discuss the possible annexation of part of the county into the town.
Morgan said the issue would probably come up again at the next meeting, but there is no guarantee action will be taken at that time.
The committee would complete its work and submit a report within six months, according to a memo from Dublin Town Manager Gary Elander. The committee would be made up of three supervisors and three council members.
by CNB