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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 27, 1995                   TAG: 9506270018
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SALEM PONDERS POOL, GOLF COURSE

Talk of plans for a municipal golf course has been fodder for the Salem rumor mill for weeks. At Monday night's City Council meeting, council acknowledged the rumors and, to some extent, confirmed them.

The truth is, Salem does have "a preliminary plan" for a possible city-run golf course at Mowles Spring Park. But they've saddled a group of Salemites with the responsibility of deciding what to do with it.

City Manager Randy Smith said a drawing has been done for an 18-hole golf course, complete with clubhouse, at Mowles Spring Park.

Council also gave the committee the task of studying another recreational question: a municipal pool.

Back in March, Mayor Jim Taliaferro promised to appoint a committee to look at the issue of a pool. But he didn't name the committee until Monday.

This isn't the first time council has considered a city pool. In 1988, council went through the pros and cons of underwriting a municipal pool. There were public hearings and a committee and plans drawn up for an indoor facility next door to the Civic Center.

But in 1990, those plans got shelved.

This go-round, the pitch is slightly different - the YMCA may be part of the equation.

The committee's charge is to look at construction costs and a method of retiring any debt incurred in either project, said City Councilman Alex Brown.

"They may come back with a recommendation that we do nothing," Taliaferro said.

Mowles Spring Park was the city's landfill until state regulations forced the city to close it in 1993. The city then entered a five-year contract with Chambers Development Corp. to truck its garbage to Amelia County.

Council once considered opening a new landfill in the park after its contract with Chambers expired. However, Smith has since said the city is out of the landfill business.

"We've got 200 acres. You tell me what to do with it," said City Councilman Sonny Tarpley, who also is an advocate for a city pool. ``You can't build homes on it, or put industry on it. One alternative use of a landfill is a golf course. They've got one in Hampton and Charlotte built on their landfills.''

And unlike other city projects, a golf course "potentially could be a money-maker."

Smith said there was no money for a golf course in this year's budget.

by CNB