Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 8, 1991 TAG: 9102080575
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Pulaski County officials, worried about coming up with their share of money for the $14.25 million site, said they needed more time to think about the proposed purchase.
Apparently, the idea has sputtered to a standstill.
"I know of nothing on this that's changed," said Pulaski County Administrator Joe Morgan. "There's nothing been done . . . forward, backward or sideways."
Officials from the three localities met twice last year to discuss buying the 743-acre site, which AT&T is marketing as one parcel. The idea was to sell the factory and develop the remaining property into several smaller industrial sites.
"It was a pretty costly thing," said Mason Vaughan, chairman of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors. "Bond issues don't go over too good."
Pulaski County officials took their cue from voters who defeated a bond issue for industrial site development by a 2-1 margin in November. After the vote, the Pulaski representatives canceled a third scheduled meeting.
A similar bond issue for industrial development in Montgomery County also was defeated.
Officials said there have been no further talks, even informally - but none described the idea as dead.
"The discussions . . . have not officially been terminated nor necessarily continued, so it's still sort of open," said Montgomery County Supervisor Ann Hess, who was chairman of the Montgomery board last year during the initial meetings.
"The plant is still on the market, so the opportunity is still there."
That opportunity could vanish any time, however, as AT&T continues an all-out effort to market the site globally.
"We're continuing to have showings on a regular basis," said company spokesman Tom Loner.
Pulaski County recently offered to help pay local matching funds for a $25,000 grant Montgomery County received for an industrial site study.
Hess said her board has not discussed the offer, but that the idea had been talked about informally.
"I think Montgomery County is pretty much going to be using that money in Montgomery County," she said.
Hess also said the possibility of Radford and Montgomery County buying the AT&T site without Pulaski County is not likely. She recalled the bitter court battle about five years ago between Radford and her county in which the city bought county property for the Ingles Mountain landfill, and eventually annexed the property.
"That makes Montgomery County very sensitive to Pulaski County in terms of this regional industrial park concept," Hess said.
None of the governing bodies has plans to separately discuss a joint effort to buy the AT&T plant.
by CNB