Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994 TAG: 9405060094
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
The memo - which asks for guidance on coordinating a hefty water study with other county plans - posed what supervisors Nick Rush and Ira Long considered to be loaded questions.
Written and reviewed by top county employees, the memo asked: "Since the Montgomery County Comprehensive Plan encourages both orderly development and conservation of natural resources, does the Board of Supervisors, as a policy, wish to promote land development, conservation, or both?
"To accomplish its goals, will the Board of Supervisors policy be pro-active, seeking to stay ahead of, or at least abreast of, development, or does the Board of Supervisors wish to continue the policy of responding to landowners' requests when received, thereby being reactive and allowing private developers to manage growth and development of the county?"
That last phrase set off Rush, a conservative Republican who makes no secret of his pro-development stance.
"I hear so much of this around here that we're being reactive. But that's the way it should be,'' he said. "It's the people who are against growth and really want the government to mandate things who are driving this thing."
Long, a conservative Democrat who represents the Prices Fork area, called the questions "sour grapes."
"I think it's wrong," he said.
The comments surfaced Monday during a county Public Service Authority board meeting. PSA board Chairman Todd Solberg attempted to shield the staff from Rush's wrath. Solberg, a Republican who lost his supervisors seat in 1991, said he took full responsibility for approving the memo.
He said he realized it was provocatively worded, but he wanted to prompt discussion. He also said he would be consulting with each PSA board member privately over the next month to gauge the next step the body should take on the water study.
Though the PSA board and the supervisors are separate legal entities, five current and two former members of the Board of Supervisors serve as its directors, making some distinctions between the two difficult to draw. The two supervisors who aren't on the PSA board are Larry Linkous and Joe Gorman.
Supervisor Henry Jablonski, who represents the Riner area, said it would be better to gather comments from the Board of Supervisors on the study, then take them back to the staff, rather than having staff members question the board.
Supervisor Jim Moore of Blacksburg, on the other hand, agreed that the board is reactive to growth and said the questions were good ones. He said Rush's "eruption" surprised him.
Rush, who represents part of Christiansburg and the Ellett Valley, called the document's tone inappropriate for something prepared by employees for review by their bosses.
But Joe Powers, the county planning director, said Tuesday the staff wanted direction from the Board of Supervisors on its policy toward development before launching into a lengthy, detailed study of how to integrate the 1993 "Comprehensive Water & Wastewater Study" with county laws and plans.
"It's a real good document, but it's an engineering document. It ignores politics," Powers said.
The problem is that some county employees - particularly those in the planning department - are still feeling the sting of seeing two years of work go for naught last fall on an effort to encourage developers to preserve portions of the county's open spaces.
The Board of Supervisors rejected the so-called "open-space" plan in the face of vocal opposition from landowners, particularly those with riverfront property, who viewed it as an infringement upon property rights.
The memo developed after a five-member team of top county managers decided Montgomery needed an overall goal on water and sewer projects from the supervisors before getting into the nuts and bolts of matching the water plan and county law.
The supervisors accepted the study, prepared by the Blacksburg engineering firm of Anderson and Associates Inc., seven months ago and last month referred it to the PSA and two political subdivisions for review and comment: the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission and the county Planning Commission.
Those three bodies were to look at ways to integrate the study - an update of a 1986 effort that includes projections of areas that will need increased sewer and water service through 2015 - into the county's 1990 comprehensive plan, its subdivision ordinance and PSA policies on water and sewer line extensions.
The issue is sensitive because some members of the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors have noted recently that more and more subdivisions are being planned for rural areas such as Riner that, for the most part, lack public utilities. But because the county only requires sewage hookups if a new subdivision is within 200 feet of an existing line, the county lacks the regulatory teeth to compel developers to pay for such extensions. New, developer-financed hookups would provide revenue for the PSA and would prevent costly, taxpayer-financed connections in later years should septic systems fail.
Such a scenario came up earlier this year when David M. Harman, a Lynchburg developer with family ties in the county, filed to subdivide 300 acres of rolling pasture west of Christiansburg into what could be the county's largest development so far, the Heritage Place subdivision.
In early March, the PSA board backed Harman's request to rely on septic systems after hearing from the developer that building a 21/2-mile link to the nearest sewage-treatment plant would cost $2 million or more and add $8,000 to $11,000 in cost per lot for the 231-lot development between U.S. 11 and Mud Pike.
The Planning Commission subsequently gave Harman the green light to start work on the project this summer. Harman has since filed for a rezoning for the first three phases of the project. That request is scheduled for a public hearing before the commission and the supervisors at 7 p.m. May 23.
by CNB