Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505080133
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
The idea was to black out the real airfield and set up fake landing lights on the nearby property, in hopes German bombs would fall harmlessly on the empty land.
The Nazis bombers never arrived; but 50 years later, Gov. George Allen has pressed the still-vacant land into service in his battle against perceived waste and inefficiency in state government.
The 2,200-acre site, known as the Elko tract, sits on the front line of Allen's effort to raise money for his ambitious prison construction program by auctioning off surplus state land.
The Allen administration has identified 112 tracts of potentially surplus land totaling about 32,500 acres. Some Republican lawmakers suggest that an aggressive effort to sell off the property or contract with private developers could reap up to $300 million.
"I think it's going to shock people by the amount of money that is raised," said Del. Harry Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, a member of an Allen-appointed commission studying the sale of state land.
It remains to be seen, however, how many acres of state land will be declared surplus and how much money the property will bring on the open market.
None of the other properties comes anywhere close to matching the size and potential value of the Elko tract. Most potential surplus sites are small parcels scattered across the state.
"If you put some of these on the market, I don't know if they will have a great value," said Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, another member of the surplus land commission.
Phil Bomersheim, director of the governor's commission, said the surplus lands hold long-term potential for significant savings, but he cautioned against expectations of an immediate windfall.
"If that is possible, someone would have done it before," Bomersheim said.
A 1977 study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission identified more than 9,000 acres of potentially surplus property with an estimated value of $10.3 million. Since that time, the state has sold 1,100 acres for $4.1 million.
Last fall, a second JLARC study found 7,100 remaining acres that possibly could be sold with an estimated value of $36.5 million.
So far, the governor's commission has recommended the sale of 14 properties, none of which is in Western Virginia.
The governor's commission, however, is studying various properties in the region, including farmland that Virginia Tech uses for agricultural and animal science research. In fact, Tech properties around the state - totaling 5,760 acres - represent nearly 20 percent of all the land considered by the governor's commission.
Bomersheim said Tech has nothing to fear about farmland that is essential to its mission as a land-grant college.
Tech Vice President Raymond Smoot said the university has identified two properties that can be sold: a 64-acre geology field station in Saltville, and an abandoned research laboratory in Winchester.
Smoot said the university is evaluating possible uses for a 400-acre farm in the Catawba section of Roanoke County, where Tech has announced it will phase out its beef cattle operation next year.
Other properties under consideration in Western Virginia include:
n395 acres on Smith Mountain in Franklin County that Virginia Western Community College uses for biology and horticulture classes.
n124 acres of undeveloped property at Dabney Lancaster Community College near Clifton Forge.
Clifford Schroeder, an Allen administration aide, cautioned that just because a property is under consideration does not mean the governor's commission will recommend its sale or that Allen will approve it.
"We don't want to make it seem like we want to sell everything the state owns," Schroeder said.
For the time being, the Allen administration does not appear to be in a hurry to sell property. Allen wants to use the proceeds to help pay for a prison-building plan that could cost $2 billion over the next decade.
But the Democrat-controlled General Assembly rejected his request that proceeds from land sales be split equally between corrections and higher education. Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke, an advocate of parks and conservation, led a fight to split the money in four portions for state parks, mental health facilities, higher education and the general fund.
"We have a whole lot of needs, and we need to address them," Thomas said.
Allen may wait until after the November election, when all 140 General Assembly seats are on the ballot, to see if the 1996 session of the legislature will earmark the money for prisons.
"I think it's unlikely that any property would be sold right now," said Purkey, the Virginia Beach Republican.
Allen may find his ambitious land sale scaled back by state agencies, particularly the politically powerful state colleges and universities, eager to hold onto land that could be put to use in the future.
Things are further complicated by the fact that some colleges and universities obtained some land without state funds through private donors or independent foundations. In some cases, the land would revert to its previous owner if it were used for other than educational purposes.
"Properties acquired through gift or use of non-general funds should remain under the control of the agency or institution," Virginia Tech President Paul Torgerson said in a letter to the JLARC last fall.
Bomersheim said the governor's commission will spend the summer cataloguing the state's holdings, researching deeds and meeting with agencies to determine how each property is used.
In the past, the state has disposed of property through auctions or sealed bids. The governor's commission also will consider marketing the land through real estate agents or entering into a public-private partnership with industrial park developers.
Putting large tracts, particularly the Elko tract, into a joint venture would enable the state to reap some of the developed value of the property, Bomersheim said.
Such an arrangement would increase the state's yield, but also could mean a delay before the state showed a profit, he said.
"It's a nuts-and-bolts, long-term stewardship of real estate," he said.
by CNB