Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210265
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
County officials say the manholes are required under an agreement with the Roanoke to make sure no hazardous waste reaches the city's waste-water treatment plant.
But one commercial real estate developer says the county is going too far.
J.B. Goria said it was "ridiculous" for the county to require inspection manholes - in the name of protecting the city's treatment plant - when the city doesn't require them for most of its own commercial buildings.
Goria acknowledges that inspection manholes, which can cost about $500 each, are not a major expense. But he said they are an example of unwarranted regulations that eat at developers' profits.
Roanoke and Roanoke County have identical rules on inspection manholes. The difference is in each locality's interpretation of the ordinance.
Is the county overzealous? Or is the city lax?
The answer depends on who answers the question.
The purpose of inspection manholes is to help prevent the regional waste-water treatment plant from handling untreated industrial or hazardous waste. If a business is suspected of pumping improper waste into the system, officials try to find the culprit by taking samples from the test manhole.
"It keeps them honest because they know you're out there," said Cliff Craig, the county's director of utilities.
Kit Kiser, the city's director of utilities and operations, said the city requires inspection manholes only for companies that produce industrial waste.
The county, however, requires manholes for all nonresidential buildings - even for strip shopping centers with businesses that do not handle dangerous waste.
Craig said the county requires manholes in all cases because a building that contains an insurance company may some day contain a photo lab, which produces toxic materials.
Goria, who owns the Promenade Park shopping center on Virginia 419, believes the county's enforcement is too stringent.
The county has told Goria he must add two inspection manholes when he renovates the shopping center to include an expanded golf supply company and a paint store. Goria said the work could cost several thousand dollars.
Last week, Goria appealed to the Board of Supervisors. "It's an unwarranted imposition on businesses in the county," he said.
Several supervisors said they were concerned that they county was getting a reputation as a difficult place to do business.
"It sounds to me like you have a very legitimate complaint," Windsor Hills representative Lee Eddy told Goria.
County officials are concerned that the city's limited enforcement is making the county look like the bad guy.
Craig said he would write to Kiser for clarification on the city's policy. "What I'm going to tell the city is, `Either you enforce this or get it out of the ordinance.' "
by CNB