Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412230024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, on Wednesday announced the more than $8 million package from Rural Economic and Community Development, formerly the Farmers Home Administration.
The $4,400,900 grant and $3,991,000 loan will go toward construction of a waste-water treatment and collection system serving the Fort Chiswell and Max Meadows areas. Boucher said he also anticipated approval of a $700,000 Community Development Block Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the state.
The lack of sewer service along the joint corridor of Interstates 81 and 77 in eastern Wythe, near the Wythe-Pulaski county line, has been the main problem for businesses and industries that would like to locate along the heavily traveled highway.
Even so, Boucher noted, a lot of commercial growth already has happened ``with the addition of a large number of truck stops and service stations.''
The project will accommodate existing enterprises, meet the needs of people living in the area and prepare the way for future growth, he said.
Supervisor Olin Armentrout, whose district is where the work will be done, envisions an industrial park, once sewer service is available. Boucher pledged to help work on that, too.
``We'd like to have it go out for bids at least by the fall,'' said Wythe County Administrator Billy Branson, who for years has been fielding inquiries from business prospects asking when utilities would be available in that part of the county.
Ken Anderson, representing the engineering firm of Anderson and Associates, said preliminary work such as planning and securing easements on the project would take at least six months. Once construction starts, he said, ``typically a job like this takes a couple of years.''
Board of Supervisors Chairman Tom DuPuis said the project is something county officials have discussed for more than 10 years. He noted that the $3.9 million loan would be at 4.5 percent interest.
Travis Jackson, regional Rural Economic and Community Development representative, said recent legislation allowed lowering the rate to that level and that the grant portion covered an unusually high 53 percent of the package.
``To be able to get grant funds in this amount, it's almost nonexistent any longer,'' he said.
Boucher said it was one of the largest commitments of federal funds to any single project in the recent history of the 9th District.
by CNB