Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 24, 1990 TAG: 9007240281
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He runs a printing business in downtown Roanoke, but doesn't even have the company's name on the building.
And for the past five years, he's done his best to keep his name out of the news - while the proposed Explore Park has tried to buy his 275-acre farm in eastern Roanoke County. Hammond is the last big landowner who has yet to sell.
But now Hammond has a bigger problem: The National Park Service wants most of his farm to build the proposed Roanoke River Parkway and a visitors' center. And the parkway builders, unlike Explore, can condemn Hammond's land if they want to.
So for the past few weeks, Hammond has been making the rounds of Roanoke Valley politicians, trying to talk up his proposal for a different location for the river parkway and visitors' center, one that doesn't take what he affectionately calls "my piece of dirt."
And Monday, there was Hammond standing before microphones and photographers at the Vinton War Memorial, holding a news conference, of all things, and passing out elaborate, bound copies of his own parkway proposal.
Being a printer, he jokes, has its advantages.
He's studied the Park Service's own figures and has come up with a route that he contends costs only half as much as the official $102.8 million proposal but has twice as many views of the river.
Not surprisingly, Hammond's route steers clear of his land, so he can build a golf course there.
Like the Park Service's recommended alignment, Hammond's proposed route would start at Third Street in Vinton.
But instead of following the north side of the river from Vinton until it reaches Explore, a route that would take it through Hammond's land, his proposed route would cross the river almost immediately at Vinton and follow the south side of the river until it terminates on Virginia 681 in Franklin County.
Hammond says this route has advantages: The section of the scenic drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway to Explore would be cheaper, and could be built sooner, because it won't have to cross the river on an expensive bridge.
Plus, he says, it has better views of the river. For one thing, he says, the Park Service's recommended route would parallel the Norfolk Southern tracks for 4.4 miles of the 9.1-mile road; Hammond's wouldn't.
Because of that, Hammond says, his route would have "good views" of the river for 3.4 to 4.5 miles, instead of only the 2 miles of river views that he says the Park Service's recommended route has. After all, Hammond says, the original purpose of the river parkway was to let tourists look at the river as it tumbles through the currently inaccessible gorge through the Blue Ridge.
Hammond's route has another advantage, at least from his point of view: The Park Service's proposed visitors' center could be built at the regional landfill, scheduled to close in a few years, instead of on his land.
Of course, there are some potential drawbacks he doesn't mention. Namely, Hammond's alignment doesn't take the route through Explore that the people planning the proposed living-history state park want.
Explore planners want the parkway to stay away from the river through the park site because it will interfere with their proposed development; Hammond says the best views of the river are within the Explore site, and Explore can learn to live with his recommendation.
Park Service officials questioned Hammond's contention that their recommended route for the parkway would have only 2 miles of "good views" of the river, but couldn't readily provide a number of their own. Views depend on a lot of things besides where the road is placed, parkway planner Bob Hope said, such as how dense the vegetation is at certain spots.
Otherwise, parkway planners declined comment on Hammond's plan, saying they won't be able to respond formally until after the official public comment period has ended Aug. 27.
But Hammond has, at least, succeeded in attracting attention. Besides the reporters, Roanoke County Supervisor Harry Nickens and an aide to Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke, stopped by his news conference to have a look at Hammond's plans.
And come Thursday, when Park Service planners will be showing off their maps and taking comments at the Vinton War Memorial from 4 to 8 p.m., Hammond will be there, too, with his own display - trying to drum up support for any route that doesn't take his land.
by CNB