ROANOKE TIMES 

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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995                   TAG: 9505080057
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BUSINESS PARK IN THE WORKS

Martinsville is laying the ground work for a 73-acre business park as city officials talk with two unidentified companies that may buy or lease some of the space.

The proposed park holds the promise of new jobs and tax revenue for the city, said Tom Harned, the city's community development coordinator .

The land picked out for the business park, on the city's north side, parallels Clearview Drive. The city owns the land, which is vacant except for a water-treatment plant and low-security jail farm.

The park would be the first in which businesses would pay taxes to the city of Martinsville. Martinsville already owns an industrial park outside city limits, Martinsville Industrial Park, where taxes are collected by Henry County.

Citizens can voice opinions about the project at a public hearing Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Clearview Elementary School. The hearing, a joint meeting of City Council and the Planning Commission, concerns giving the land a new zoning restriction to allow only "relatively clean and quiet" industry in the park. The City Council is to vote on the rezoning on May 23.

Residents of the Northside area, the closest neighborhood to the project, support the effort because the park will be restricted to light industry and the city is addressing traffic problems in the area, which includes the intersection of Clearview and Northside drives, said Gene Teague, councilman and Northside resident.

Harned got a mandate from city leaders to find land for new industrial development a year ago when he was hired for the newly created job.

Harned declined to identify two companies he said are considering a move to Martinsville or expansion in the city. The prospects cropped up as he was planning the proposed business park. "One did not drive the other," he said.

However, securing financing for the park will be easier if a prospect commits to a parcel, Harned said. City officials haven't estimated the cost of the proposed business park or the number of companies it would support. 


 by CNB