Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180098
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"I'm still disappointed that they just shut [discussion] down," said Lance Matheson, a member of the Friends of Christiansburg, a group that has focused its attention on saving the buildings. "To be just shut down was not the appropriate way for Town Council to behave."
The meeting, held Tuesday night, degenerated into one of the most antagonistic in years, with Mayor Harold Linkous saying at one point, "We've finished with this matter." Said a developer who showed council computer models of what the downtown could look like if the buildings were retained: "I've never run into something so inflexible and closeminded. It was the roughest thing I've ever seen."
"I think everyone went out last night feeling bad," said Ann Hess, another member of the friends group and a former member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
"I was conscious of the fact that they were very disappointed," said council member Jack Via. "It's regrettable.... It happened, and you just go on."
Linkous said he had never been to a meeting "that got that heated. I'd just as soon it turned out in a different way."
Emotions were brought to a head by a presentation by Ron Morgan, a developer invited to the meeting by the Friends of Christiansburg. Morgan, who said he could provide money to renovate the buildings were council to give him the green light, took photographs of Christiansburg Saturday during an air tour over the town.
His $300 expense was paid by a private donation, said Ben Capozzi, a moving force behind the friends group.
Morgan used a computer and the photos to show, in a 15-minute presentation that riveted council and the 30 audience members, a downtown that featured the buildings, a park across Main Street from the buildings, a farmers market, and a revitalized courthouse square.
"There's more potential in a town like this than in a town like Charlotte," said Morgan, whose promotional brochure cites planning and development work that he has done in Charlotte, N.C., Charleston, S.C., and the San Fransisco area.
The downtown buildings were gutted by a 1962 fire and have been heavily damaged by water and dry rot. Council has been vexed by the problem of where to find cash to renovate them since the town bought them for $320,000 in 1990.
Council stood by its decision to demolish the buildings at 18-34 East Main St. and construct a parking lot for the municipal building next door. But members said they were impressed by Morgan's work, and referred his comprehensive proposal to a committee for further study.
Still, at Tuesday's meeting, council accepted a bid from USA Remediation Services, Inc., of Gainesville to remove asbestos from the buildings, the required first step in their razing. Demolition by Virginia Environmental Corporation of Roanoke could begin within two months, Town Manager John Lemley said.
Two weeks ago, residents asked council to give the buildings a three-month reprieve, to allow them to come up with more ideas. At their request, state and historic preservation officials contacted Christiansburg about the buildings.
In an expected move, council, saying it had already decided the buildings' fate last winter, refused to hear their plea.
Tuesday following the meeting, some building advocates criticized the Roanoke Times & World-News for not reporting that decision.
On Monday, Capozzi paid for 5,000 advertising inserts in the paper, urging citizens in Christiansburg to contact council members and Lemley to save the buildings. The insert quoted a number of officials as saying tearing down the buildings would mean tearing down the town's history.
At Tuesday's meeting, Lee Johnston, a legislative assistant to Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg, said Shuler's comments had been taken out of context.
Shuler has not taken a position on the matter, Johnston said.
by CNB