Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 15, 1993 TAG: 9307150068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
And don't expect the influential state lawmaker to support a consolidation proposal that would divide Roanoke County between Roanoke and Salem, as Mayor David Bowers has suggested.
Cranwell, D-Vinton, said Wednesday he will fight any attempt by Roanoke to get the power to annex again.
And he said that Bowers' proposal for splitting the county is nothing more than a recycled idea that has been rejected twice by voters and once by the courts.
County voters vetoed consolidation in referendums in 1969 and 1990. In an annexation case in the early 1970s, the Virginia Supreme Court also rejected an attempt by Roanoke and Salem to divide the county between them.
Cranwell disputed Bowers' contention that the multiplicity of governments in the Roanoke Valley hampers economic growth.
"To say that consolidation would create a better climate for economic and industrial development begs the question," Cranwell said.
If the valley localities want to cooperate on economic development and other issues, they can, Cranwell said.
If there is a problem, it is caused by people, not the governmental structure, he said.
Cranwell helped draft the law that bars Roanoke and most large cities in Virginia from annexation.
"I worked seven years to stop annexation, and I will oppose any effort to change that," he said. Annexation is a divisive issue that hampers governmental relations, he said.
Roanoke County is one of about a dozen suburban Virginia counties that are immune from annexation. Smaller cities still have the right to annex, but it is a lengthy and expensive process.
Bowers contends that the city's inability to annex prevents the growth in the tax base that is necessary to deal with the growing problems of poverty, homelessness and a school system in which 50 percent of the children come from low-income households.
Roanoke's boundaries are frozen, with little vacant land for commercial, industrial or residential development to boost the tax base. Like many cities in Virginia and elsewhere, Roanoke is becoming poorer and older with a declining population.
Faced with these trends, Bowers and city officials argue that Roanoke should either be consolidated with Roanoke County or be allowed to annex to boost its tax base.
The last annexation by the city was in 1976, when it acquired nearly 16 square miles and 15,000 residents from the county.
But neither annexation nor consolidation is necessarily the solution to the city's problem, Cranwell says.
What the valley needs to do, he said, is to improve its infrastructure, upgrade services, maintain good schools and a good labor force - the building blocks to get basic industry.
In the meantime, the valley needs to focus on tourism as it seeks more industries, Cranwell said. And it needs to develop stronger ties to Virginia Tech through Hotel Roanoke and other projects, he said. The localities could also explore the functional consolidation of some services.
Cranwell said the valley can expand its manufacturing base without consolidation.
If the localities can't work together on economic development issues, he said, they can create a regional agency to help foster a better working relationship.
Cranwell said cities have more taxing powers than counties, which help them deal with their financial pressures and problems. Counties, for instance, must go to the legislature to get permission to enact meals, lodging and admissions taxes, while cities do not. There are tradeoffs between cities and counties, he said.
Meanwhile, Salem and Vinton officials said Wednesday they doubt that county voters would approve consolidation less than three years after it was rejected.
Salem City Councilman Howard Packett said he hasn't seen or heard anything to indicate a major change in county voters' sentiments.
Bowers has suggested that the county be split between Roanoke and Salem with the western half going to Salem. That's the plan that was rejected by the Virginia Supreme Court in the 1970s.
The 1990 consolidation plan also called for a separate referendum that would have allowed the western part of the county to become a part of Salem if the merger of Roanoke and Roanoke County had been approved.
Salem officials said then they were interested in acquiring the western part of the county, but they never reached an agreement with the consolidation negotiators on the price for the public facilities in the area. The issue became moot when consolidation was rejected.
"We said we were willing to sit down and talk about it, but there was nothing to consider after the vote," Packett said.
Salem did not participate in either the 1969 or the 1990 merger votes.
In Vinton, Mayor Charles Hill said he hasn't detected any change in voters' sentiments, either.
"I think it's just too soon after the [1990] vote. I don't see anything that has changed the situation," Hill said.
Bowers has suggested that Vinton remain a town if the county were split between Roanoke and Salem. That is similar to the 1990 merger plan.
Vinton would have been permitted to nearly triple its size by annexing a large area in eastern Roanoke County if consolidation had been approved.
by CNB