Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412220017
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A22 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A little more study wouldn't hurt, so long as it (1) doesn't take forever, (2) includes the right players, and (3) is linked, this time, to action.
Ellett and Bob Fetzer, a general contractor, recently urged Roanoke City Council to set up a commission that would oversee local greenway development. (Greenways: trails or linear parks that follow natural corridors such as streams and ridgetops, or man-made corridors such as scenic roads and rail rights of way; practical, accessible additions to the old-fashioned shady streets and neighborhood sidewalks that people with good cause cherish.)
Recognizing a good idea, council members have asked City Manager Bob Herbert to figure out how to get started. They also have suggested that greenways may be included in budget deliberations next year, presumably allowing for planning in 1995, with initial funding in 1996.
That is hardly too soon, considering that elaborate greenway proposals have been drawn up at least five times in the valley, the first as long ago as 1908. Or considering that other cities have gained great benefit from their greenways: Raleigh, N.C., for instance, hopes to have 200 miles of them by the year 2000. Or considering that other greenway initiatives - in Lynchburg, Galax, Bedford, Danville, Marion and many other communities around the nation - already have won federal grants that, given fiscal priorities in Washington nowadays, may be less available soon.
The Roanoke Valley's decades-long squandering of opportunities is all the more lamentable in view of the extraordinary extent of its opportunities. How many localities have a chance to develop greenways connecting to a Blue Ridge Parkway, an Appalachian Trail or a Mill Mountain, not to mention Explore Park and Smith Mountain Lake? How many communities our size have the parks, streams and mountains that we enjoy, waiting to be linked via greenways or biking trails?
If the city of Roanoke moves ahead, beginning with a path along the Roanoke River or an "art walk" by the railroad tracks downtown, that would be fine. Even better would be to make the effort regional from the start.
Municipal officials from Roanoke County, Salem and Vinton, as well as from the city, have attended recent informational sessions on greenways. They also are meeting with the Fifth Planning District Commission to craft an open-space plan for the valley, which ought to include bike paths and linear parks.
Of course Roanoke stands to benefit from greenways - from their effect, for example, on quality of life, property values, retention of middle-class families and the attraction of tourism and economic development. But the same is true of Roanoke County and the valley's other jurisdictions. And the natural corridors that trails and greenways would follow show no respect for political boundaries.
This project offers a superb opportunity for regional cooperation, including joint planning and funding. Indeed, one potential benefit of a network of trails would be to draw our region closer together, to make our community more coherent.
To make up for lost time, a regional group should be formed, and it should aim to produce not plans on a bookshelf, but greenways on the ground.
by CNB