
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993                   TAG: 9305040301
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

RADFORD COUNCIL GIVES FINAL OK TO CORRIDOR PACT

If all goes as planned, the city will do some remodeling down the road, turning its back door into a front door.

At a two-minute special meeting Monday, council gave final approval with a 3-2 vote to the Route 177 Corridor Agreement with Montgomery County and will petition for its court approval.

The action paves the way for joint, cooperative development of the road from Interstate 81 to Radford University and downtown.

Montgomery County approved the pact last week. It now goes to a three-judge panel.

The contract calls on the city to forever give up annexation rights in the area. In exchange, Montgomery County will share with Radford 27.5 percent of local tax revenues generated within the corridor.

The agreement also calls on Radford to supply water and sewer service to the corridor. The city and the county would cooperate in planning and development.

Vice Mayor Polly Corn, who was on the negotiating team that hammered out the pact, expressed confidence that the courts would support the agreement.

"The development in the area will aid in the development of Radford," she said after the vote. She said a "crucial" factor is the planned four-laning of Virginia 177 to handle increased traffic flow to and from the city, where the road becomes Tyler Avenue.

"This is the city's front door," she said.

Corn said she anticipates the corridor's becoming the main road into the city, pointing out long-range Virginia Department of Transportation plans to consider extending the route across the New River over a second bridge to Virginia 114 in Fairlawn.

Radford Community Hospital already intends to expand into the corridor area outside city limits. Corn said additional development would help boost the city's population and flagging school enrollments as well as shopping and business activity within the city.

Mayor Tom Starnes, who has voted against the agreement every step of the way, sees it differently. He said he's "all for sharing and everything" but was unwilling to sacrifice the city's annexation rights for a piece of the tax pie. Starnes said he might have been able to go along with the agreement if there had been a time limit on the annexation moratorium.

by CNB