Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 17, 1995 TAG: 9507180005
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Three community workshops in fact are planned, each aiming to explain the greenway concept and to solicit ideas about where, and for what uses, greenways can be developed here.
The first meeting - a good one to attend - will be next Monday evening, July 24, at the Roanoke Civic Center's exhibit hall. The second is scheduled for August 17 at William Byrd High in Vinton. The third, August 30 at Salem High.
Each workshop begins at 6:30 p.m. People can drop in anytime after 5 to see displays and videos. A flier says families are invited. In a telling touch, children ages 11 and older will be encouraged to participate.
The point? Not just to inform but to engage the public, we are told, in developing a conceptual plan for valley greenways. Where should the greenways go? What should they do? Which one should be developed first?
(We're talking here about land corridors, usually trails, that connect people and places and that offer alternative transportation, community recreation, natural buffer and economic benefits.)
The workshops' sponsor is the Roanoke Valley Greenways/Open Space Steering Committee. It is making a nice start on a local initiative as promising as it is overdue.
Founded this spring, staffed by the Fifth Planning District Commission and composed of citizen advocates and municipal planners appointed by the valley's four governments, this committee has gotten busy in a short time on a shoestring budget.
Its very formation, albeit less than smooth, has been a tribute to the power of citizen enthusiasm and the ability of local governments to cooperate on a project of clearly regional scope.
Last month, committee members visited greenway networks in the Raleigh-Durham and Knoxville-Kingsport regions. That the delegation was impressed should surprise no one, given the Roanoke Valley's comparative backwardness when it comes to greenways.
Last month, too, the group hired a Raleigh consultant to assist planning efforts here. Charles Flink, a landscape architect, helped develop Raleigh's greenways web - probably the most extensive in the South - and has worked with numerous other communities on trail initiatives.
Flink is an impressive choice for injecting experience and expertise into a local movement thus far driven mostly by a few ardent amateurs pulling along distracted municipal officials. Notably, local governments chipped in to hire Flink. He'll lead the workshop July 24 .
The immediate goal is to develop a regional greenways plan that the steering committee can use this fall to apply for federal funding. But just as important is to build public interest and involvement.
Walking and biking paths don't appear overnight; they take years, decades, to develop. They also require pooled effort and public-private collaborations. It is well that citizens are being involved in the planning now, for their activism will always be more crucial to this enterprise than any government's sponsorship.
The steering committee is moving quickly, but without partners can only run in place. For residents with a stake in the valley's quality of life, a good way to have an impact on greenways is to attend an upcoming workshop.
by CNB