Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 14, 1993 TAG: 9302140018
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
`IT'S ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER' - AND THEY DON'T LIKE IT
RESIDENTS of the Ironto-Bradshaw Valley are beginning to wonder if they are a dumping ground for everyone now that another landfill is in the planning for the area.\ Last fall, Jim Waltz got wind that Montgomery County was looking for a landfill site near the Montgomery-Roanoke line.
But Waltz and his neighbors did not take it seriously because a new landfill already was going in a few miles upstream in Roanoke County. In fact, the railroad was shearing off hillsides on one side of their valley to make way for 5 miles of train track leading to the Roanoke Regional Landfill site.
After all they've been through, folks figured that Montgomery County would leave them in peace.
Then workers taking soil samples were spotted on property near Flatwoods Road. Residents later learned that the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors had taken an option to buy 472 acres and had hired a company to determine if the land would be suitable for a landfill.
The discovery left residents feeling betrayed.
"It seems like everything [undesirable] will end up down here in this part of the county because we don't have the population to fight it," said Gordon Garrett, a commercial artist who moved to the area 10 years ago.
Residents of the Ironto-Bradshaw Valley area launched a petition drive that collected 600 signatures and sent delegations to Blacksburg to demand answers from Montgomery County officials.
Their questions have been met with silence. The Board of Supervisors has agreed to make no comment as it decides how to replace the county's landfill, which is expected to reach capacity in seven to nine years.
In December, the board confirmed that it had several potential sites under consideration but that no decision had been made.
Ironto-Bradshaw Valley residents suspect that county officials already have made up their minds to move the landfill to their community. Residents note that the Flatwoods Road property is the only site where the county is conducting tests.
"That makes you think it's a definite spot," said Waltz, a retired truck driver whose house overlooks Flatwoods Road.
The possibility of a Montgomery County landfill is the latest indignation that the 850 or so residents of the Ironto-Bradshaw Valley section say they have suffered in recent years.
In the 1980s, there was a proposal to turn their valley into a lake as part of a plan to control flooding in Salem and Roanoke. The area later was mentioned as a possible route for the so-called "smart road," a high-technology demonstration road to shorten the trip between Roanoke and Blacksburg. Last year, Norfolk Southern Corp. began building a five-mile railroad spur for a train that will carry garbage to the Roanoke Regional Landfill, which is scheduled to open this fall.
"It's been one thing after another," said Randy Leech, an electrical engineer who moved to North Fork Road about eight years ago.
Pete Castelli, an organizer for Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes in Floyd, said that the area's plight is not surprising given its isolated location and sparse population.
Castelli said consultants who advise localities on landfill siting often recommend areas near county lines because it divides people and cuts opposition by half.
It's probably no coincidence, he said, that the Roanoke Valley built its regional landfill within a mile of the Montgomery County line.
The landfill's location divided the Bradshaw Road community in the late 1980s, when a regional authority was selecting 1,100 acres at Smith Gap.
Residents on the Roanoke County side of Bradshaw Road mounted a campaign to block the landfill. But residents from the Montgomery County side of Bradshaw and North Fork roads generally stayed out of the fight.
Montgomery residents thought Smith Gap was a Roanoke County problem, although the landfill would be within a few miles of their homes. Some did not even know where Smith Gap was.
"Some of them thought it was out at Smith Mountain Lake," said Louise Spangler, a lifelong resident of North Fork Road.
The Montgomery-Roanoke rift widened when the Roanoke Valley authority decided to ship garbage to the landfill by train. "They won, but we lost," said Karen Wilson, who lives in Montgomery County.
Bradshaw Road residents in Roanoke County lobbied for a "trash train" because they wanted to keep hundreds of garbage trucks off their road.
Montgomery County residents opposed the trash train because it would require Norfolk Southern to build the rail spur through their community.
Montgomery residents objected to the rail line's taking their land and cutting away the hillside along the North Fork of the Roanoke River and Bradshaw Creek.
Elmer Bower feels sick when he looks across his cattle field and sees the hillside torn away.
"This little area we have is really beautiful - or it was," said Bower, who has raised beef and dairy cattle on North Fork Road since 1945.
The prospect of a second landfill in their community has prompted Ironto-Bradshaw Valley residents to resurrect Save Our Soil, a citizens' group formed in the 1980s to fight plans to dam the North Fork of the Roanoke River.
Old-timers who farmed the rich bottom land have banded together with relative newcomers who moved there for the rural setting.
Organizers believe one reason the Flatwoods Road property is under consideration is that county officials expected little opposition.
"I think they saw they had such an easy time when they brought the train spur through that there wouldn't be a fight," said Wilson, who works at Virginia Tech.
SOS organizers say they are ready to mount a fight, even if soil tests show the Flatwoods Road site is ideal for a landfill.
Organizers say it would make no sense to have two landfills within three miles of each other. They say it also would make no sense for Montgomery County to spend money to develop a new landfill when it could join either the New River or Roanoke Valley regional authorities.
The group also wants Montgomery County to expand household recycling to help prolong the life of the county's existing landfill.
Montgomery County Administrator Betty Thomas said opening a new landfill is only one option.
The county also could expand the existing Mid-County Landfill, join an existing regional authority, create a new one or hire a private company to haul away trash, she said.
Thomas said the board was six months to a year away from a decision.
Supervisor Joe Stewart, who represents the Ironto-Bradshaw Valley area, said he would not favor putting a second landfill in the area.
"They've put up with too much," Stewart said.
SOS organizers are taking no chances. They plan to maintain a vigil at Board of Supervisors meetings until the county abandons plans for the Flatwoods Road site.
"If they want to press forward," Castelli said, "we can show that what they want to do doesn't make sense."