Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Town Council and audience members greeted the proposed 10-year plan warmly Tuesday but council made no decision on it. Now, the Recreation Advisory Commission must make a recommendation and forward it to council.
"Personally, I think this is a good plan," said Mayor Harold Linkous, after a 25-minute slide show presentation by David Hill, a Roanoke consultant whose firm prepared the 100-page report.
Hill, who has done consulting work for communities throughout Southwest Virginia, said the plan is unique because it turns the town's old landfill at Wades Lane into softball fields and its old sewage treatment plant near Depot Street and Mill Lane into a children's playground.
The plan also features detailed recommendations and drawings for six other parks.
Several omissions, however, were notable: the plan said nothing about the Negro Children's Playground - known locally as "the Playground" - adjacent to the town's Deport Street site and no parks are earmarked for the Belmont neighborhood on Peppers Ferry Road, which has seen Christiansburg's biggest growth since the town annexed the area in 1988.
The Negro Children's park was not included because it is privately owned, Hill said. But he said acquiring a park near Belmont would be "probably a good idea," he added.
Of the eight parks, the Wades Lane site would be created from scratch. The others already exist, but in varying condition. For example, the Summitridge park has new playground equipment and is in good condition, while the Wayside park is rundown and "not noted for virtuous activities there in the evening," Hill said.
Audience members said the town badly needs a reinvigorated Parks and Recreation Department. A volunteer basketball coach spoke of crowded courts and restless teenagers.
"If we don't provide these kids with organized recreation, they're going to find their own, and that could prove to be much more costly in human terms."
The recreation department's participants and programs have more than doubled in recent years. The number of people who use the department grew from less than 5,000 in fiscal year 1987-88 to more than 10,000 in 1992-93. Its programs increased from 150 to 350.
Hills' firm inserted 10,000 surveys into local newspapers during the summer to gauge the wants of residents. They received 147 responses and supplemented those with 100 random telephone surveys, providing a scientifically valid sample, Hill said.
Swimming, walking, meeting and socializing, and basketball rated high in the surveys.
A recreation center is the department's most immediate need, followed by new basketball courts and pools, the consultants and commission members said.
Of the eight parks:
Ellett and Summitridge would be "neighborhood" parks, within walking distance of its intended users.
Cambria Senior Center, and Kiwanis, Wayside and College St. parks would be bigger, "community" parks with a focus or theme, such as basketball.
Wades Lane and Depot Street would be "district" parks that would serve the entire town. The 40-acre Wades Lane park would have three softball fields with bleachers and the 17-acre Depot Street site would have a recreation center
by CNB