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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993                   TAG: 9306110267
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGES OK 177 CORRIDOR AGREEMENT

The corridor pact outlines plans for cooperation between the city and the county in developing the 6.2-square-mile area of the county straddling Virginia 177, which joins Tyler Avenue and connects Radford with Interstate 81.

Thursday's proceedings before Circuit Court Judges Nicholas Persin of Grundy, Charles McCormick of Halifax and James Berry of Winchester had all the trappings of an adversarial proceeding, but without the adversaries. The Virginia Supreme Court appointed the panel to approve or disapprove the agreement, as state law requires.

"Despite the fact we're on opposite sides of the room, we're in agreement," said Radford City Attorney John "Bunny" Spiers as the hearing got under way.

Radford City Manager Robert Asbury and Montgomery County Administrator Betty Thomas testified in favor of the cooperative arrangement, which has been approved by the county Board of Supervisors and Radford City Council. It also was reviewed by the General Assembly's Commission on Local Government.

Among other provisions, the agreement calls for the city to provide utilities to the corridor and to give up any annexation rights as long as it remains a city. In exchange, the city will get 27.5 percent of all tax revenues generated in the area.

"It is truly in the best interests of Montgomery County and, I think, the city of Radford," Thomas told the panel.

Saying it was "customary" to hear opposing views, Persin called for any opponents to speak, but none did.

The three judges considered the agreement in chambers for about 20 minutes before announcing their unanimous approval.

Persin praised the city and the county for exhibiting "a spirit of cooperation" and said the panel concurred that the agreement would benefit both jurisdictions and "further orderly development" within the corridor.

Radford Community Hospital already has announced plans for a new hospital in the corridor, and the Virginia Department of Transportation has tentatively funded a project to expand the highway to four lanes from the city limits to I-81's Exit 109. Work on the project, estimated at $990,000, could begin in 1995.

"I believe this agreement will be a model for other localities," Thomas said after the hearing.