Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991 TAG: 9104090451
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Weddle suggested council members should be a part of discussions that City Manager Robert Asbury Jr. has been directed to begin with the university.
Meeting with university and state Department of Transportation officials was suggested at a Saturday special meeting to devise a plan for accelerated funding to connect Jefferson Street to Tyler Avenue on the east side of the university and to improve another stretch of Tyler Avenue on the west side.
Tyler Avenue is the major road to Radford University and downtown Radford from Interstate 81's Exit 35.
Council voted unanimously Saturday to make improvements to Rock Road between Wadsworth and First streets its priority project in the state's six-year plan, overturning a 3-2 vote last month favoring the Jefferson-Tyler project. The reversal came after council learned the state already had spent $12,000 to $15,000 on preliminary engineering work on the Rock Road project, which had moved up the list of projects for several years.
Plans for the $4.3 million Rock Road project call for the segment of road to be widened and straightened to accommodate four lanes, although initial construction would involve two lanes.
Weddle said council involvement in the Jefferson-Tyler discussions would improve communications and might expedite the road improvements.
"We need general dialogue with RU on a regular basis," he said, and a task force on the road improvement could be a springboard for that.
The task force could be similar to one already established with Montgomery County to discuss development of the Tyler Avenue-Virginia 177 corridor. Two council members serve on that board.
A 1990 estimate placed the Jefferson-Tyler project at $2.3 million. Asbury said obtaining money for an accelerated project will require looking "beyond the urban construction money" from the state and "will require a close working relationship" between Radford and the university.
No one on council opposed Weddle's suggestion, and Asbury said he would pursue the idea with university officials.
In other business, council:
Approved increasing the income and net worth limitations for the city's real estate tax relief program for the elderly and disabled. The income limit per household was increased by $2,000 to $13,000 and the net worth limit was raised $5,000 to $40,000.
The first $2,500 received as compensation by a disabled person and the first $4,000 of income earned by relatives other than spouses living in the home are not included in the income limit.
The $40,000 net worth limit excludes the home and up to an acre that the home is on.
Doubled the fee charged for filing civil actions in the Radford court system and established a $2 fee for each traffic and criminal case.
Civil action filing will carry a $4 fee as of May 1. The money is used to maintain a law library that is open to the public.
The $2 fee for criminal and traffic cases will be used for construction, renovation or maintenance of court or jail facilities.
Keywords:
GARY WEDDLE
by CNB