
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994                   TAG: 9411160069
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLANT UPGRADE

ROANOKE CITY Manager Bob Herbert called it ``a momentous occasion.'' Since the deal had been in the talking stages for eight - eight! - years, he can be forgiven for waxing a bit hyperbolic.

Certainly, putting the final touches on a plan to expand regional sewage-treatment capacity is an event worth celebrating.

It was some time in coming, of course, because this is the balkanized Roanoke Valley - five jurisdictions, five sets of politicians, five sets of lawyers who had to get their hands on the sewer plan after agreement was reached in principle more than a year ago. And Jimmy Carter wasn't available to expedite a peaceful settlement.

Sewer service is a basic of government, as crucial as it is mundane. It would be nice if regional planning could become as mundane as it is crucial. But there's no cause to be cranky. In the absence of the ideal (a regional sewer and water authority), complicated issues had to be addressed or finessed in the bargaining. Among them: the different circumstances facing a city with aging infrastructure but less growth in demand, versus suburbs with newer infrastructure but more growth.

The $41.5 million upgrade of the Roanoke sewer plant is long overdue - effectively mandated by federal and state environmental standards. It is also necessary for continued development in the region - a moratorium on new sewer hookups was a real threat.

So there's no question the expansion had to get done. Even so, the cost-sharing pact offers another example of slow but steady strides toward increased cooperation, a good thing.

It may come as a surprise to some locals, but state officials these days are pointing to our region - in particular, the New Century Council's planning initiative and the Roanoke Valley Economic Development Partnership's successful business recruitment and marketing efforts - as an example to the rest of Virginia of how regional cooperation can work.

In the case of the sewer cost-sharing agreement, as in other cases, the private sector helpfully pressured municipalities to come to terms. With more such pressure and progress, regional cooperation should become less momentous and more routine.

by CNB