Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
VMH Inc. of Christiansburg has been working with state organizations for months - while butting heads with local opposition - to build the 16-bed facility in the Possum Hollow section of the county.
But their plan, which seemed a done deal three months ago, hit a snag recently when the Virginia Department of Transportation denied their request for a driveway entrance permit.
J.H. Goad, resident engineer with the department's Hillsville office, said there wasn't enough sight distance between the driveway on Virginia 615 and a curve up the road.
To meet requirements for a commercial entrance, taking into account the average speed of vehicles using the road, 470 feet is needed between the two points, he said.
The actual distance is 450 feet, he said.
Janaka Casper, executive director of VMH, formerly Virginia Mountain Housing Inc., said he's looking at his options.
VMH hired Anderson & Associates of Blacksburg to do its own study of speed and distance factors. Goad said the consulting firm came up with similar results. Casper said the findings were different, although he did not elaborate.
Still, the permit application has not gone through, and Goad said VMH's only option may be to purchase additional property and place the driveway farther down the road.
But that option most likely will be difficult, considering the controversy the proposal has generated with local residents.
"Nobody's going to give them property," said Linda DeVito, a Floyd County citizen who has led several dozen residents in their argument against the facility.
Their disagreements had centered on factors such as the site's isolation, the nature of the children who would be housed there and what they perceived as an underhanded process of establishing the home.
When the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development said in November that it would loan VMH $350,000 to build the home, it appeared to be the final measure VMH needed.
The denied permit changes that.
"We feel vindicated," DeVito said.
But Casper said VMH would continue to try to find a way to build the home. VMH has formed a corporation, Tekoa Inc., to run it, and believes it is needed so truant, abused and otherwise troubled youths can be treated closer to home.
"We're not abandoning the project, that's for sure," Casper said.
by CNB