Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 22, 1993 TAG: 9312250111
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
A regional jail committee must soon settle on a proposed site as part of the plan it must submit to the state by mid-January to qualify for 50 percent state funding on the project.
Localities represented on the committee include Pulaski, Giles, Floyd, Carroll and Grayson counties and the city of Radford. Wythe County, which had helped fund earlier regional jail studies, is not a participant at this point.
The geographical makeup of the region to be served must be known before a site is proposed, so as central a location as possible can be selected.
The supervisors agreed to help with the search following a closed session Monday night to discuss personnel, legal and land matters as well as prospective industry.
In other action following the executive session, the board also agreed to transfer some land in the county's industrial park to the Industrial Development Authority.
In other business, it also nominated Andy McCready to be appointed by the Circuit Court to the county's Board of Zoning Appeals.
During its regular session, the board viewed an 11-minute videotape promoting Pulaski County as a prospective location for new industry as well as a good place to live.
The tape was created through support from New River Community College and Pulaski Community Hospital. It was prepared by Tom Wilkerson, Alisa Mercer, Eric Brady and Rick Scott from the college's Learning Resources Center.
Such a presentation is part of state requirements for Pulaski County to be recertified in Virginia's economic development program as being ready for new industry. It can also be checked out for use by community groups.
In other action, the board passed a resolution asking the 1994 General Assembly to exempt from property taxes a building to be donated by Appalachian Power Co. to New River Valley Habitat for Humanity Inc. as a community building.
Apco is donating a building valued at $63,100 at 55 First St. N. in Pulaski. It was taxed at $441 this year.
The board voted to ask the Virginia Department of Transportation to look into two safety concerns in the town of Dublin.
Dublin Town Council had asked that the county request a traffic light at Virginia 100 [Cleburne Boulevard] and Virginia 1026 [Hawkins Street] near the Hardee's restaurant, and on a study of ways to ease traffic congestion along Virginia 1005 [Fourth Street], a neighborhood street, which drivers use to bypass part of U.S. 11.
A meeting of Resident Transportation Engineer J.D. Brugh, Sheriff Ralph Dobbins and a group of citizens seeking ways to lower the speed limit on part of Virginia 690 [Shelburne Road] was set for 6 p.m. Jan. 24, before the board's next meeting at 7 p.m.
The board approved agreements with the New River Health District and the Pulaski Free Clinic to lease space to them in the former Jefferson School building in Pulaski. The health agency will pay $125 a month for two office rooms, and the clinic, $100 a month for office and clinic rooms.
The supervisors also agreed to join in an initiative suggested by the Prince George County Board of Supervisors to seek changes in the process by which cities can annex areas of counties.
If a moratorium on city annexation is lifted by the legislature, Pulaski County - bordering on Radford - is one of 26 Virginia counties that conceivably could find itself facing annexation attempts by a neighboring city. The Prince George board urged governing bodies from these counties to meet in Richmond next month to discuss strategies.
A snow that coated the region Monday kept attendance at the meeting to only one person, besides county officials and the news media. Terri McMillan was attending a public hearing on her request for a zoning change on property she owns in the Robinson District, but her request was approved without her having to address the board.
``We may be small in numbers, but we're high in enthusiasm,'' board Chairman Jerry White said in opening the session.
by CNB