Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 8, 1994 TAG: 9410100042
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The supervisors will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Montgomery County Courthouse. The board moved the meeting from Monday because of the government holiday for Columbus Day.
Developers Allison Wilson and Nick Romantini want the board to rezone 14 acres between the Blacksburg town limit and Coal Bank Hollow Road from agricultural to residential use. The rural, residential neighborhood is about a mile northeast of Blacksburg.
Three would-be neighbors of the subdivision expressed a variety of concerns about the proposal at a Sept. 26 public hearing, ranging from concerns about its possible effect on groundwater to the degradation of the area's rural character.
But that same night the county Planning Commission recommended the supervisors approve the rezoning. The planners noted that septic systems - the area is not served by public sewer or water - will be reviewed by the state Health Department. Also, the state Transportation Department will review road construction and drainage aspects.
Though the public hearing is past, people concerned with the project will still have a chance to speak before the board during the public comments section at the meeting's start. Speakers are limited to three minutes each.
The Board of Supervisors also will hear a report from the county staff on curbside collection of garbage in six other localities across Southwest Virginia. A proposal to compel more than 1,000 homeowners and businesses in northeastern Montgomery to pay up to $15 a month for curbside trash collection ran into opposition last month from several board members.
They were echoing concerns of residents in the Mount Tabor, Preston Forest and Lusters Gate communities, who believed it would be unfair that their areas alone be used as a pilot program for the rest of rural Montgomery.
But a report to be presented by the county staff concludes that relying on unmonitored green boxes to collect trash in the rural areas of Montgomery costs the county $174,000 a year in unnecessary tipping fees.
That's because, the staff estimates, about 25 percent of the trash put in the green boxes comes from noncounty residents who do not pay the consumer utility tax, which pays for the dumping of the boxes at the Mid-County Landfill.
Without taking steps to remedy the situation, the staff concludes, the county's garbage collection program will face an $84,000 deficit next year.
by CNB