Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508210015
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: B. LYNN WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Long
A young black couple looking for their first home, the Alexanders found the town of Pearisburg, like others in the rural South, inhospitable.
They bought an overgrown lot nearby. With elbow grease and determination, they cleared the land and built their home.
Now the town is trying to annex the community that grew out of that wilderness - a community where minority families bought land, built homes, and raised their children.
And Catherine Alexander, 62, finds irony in that. First, the town rejected them. Now, it wants them.
Last January, Pearisburg and Giles County signed an agreement to allow the town to enlarge its boundaries by annexing adjacent subdivisions and neighborhoods.
If the deal is approved by the Commission on Local Government, Virginia Heights, whose 76 residents bitterly oppose becoming part of Pearisburg, would be taken in at year's end. The community residents will have a chance to express their opposition at the commission's hearing on the annexation Monday night.
Feelings run strong in Virginia Heights. The citizens there cannot forget the past. And they are concerned about the future and the double tax burden that comes with annexation. Like all Pearisburg residents, they will pay town taxes on top of their county taxes if annexed. For example, taxes on an average $40,000 house would increase from $272 a year to $432 a year, an increase of $160.
Most of the citizens in Virginia Heights are retired and on fixed incomes. They say they have no need for the sewer and other services the town says it will provide.
The town wants the citizens though, because it "needs the land and the tax base," Pearisburg Mayor John Harvey Givens said. And eventually, the annexed areas will receive "all the services provided residents in town."
Givens said these include: water and sewer (if not already available), street maintenance, fire and police protection, and streetlights.
The new residents also may use the library and recreation facilities.
Asked how much additional revenue the town expects to receive if the annexation agreement is approved, Givens said that he didn't know. Annexation opponent J.W. Wood said the legal agreement shows the town expects to net $131,000 in additional revenue after expenses are paid.
Alexander's voice quavered as she recalled how her husband with a young family and a good job at Celanese had tried to build in town.
"My husband checked everywhere and we couldn't buy land," Alexander said. So, Alexander's father, Russell Carter, sold them a small tract in Virginia Heights where he had planted a garden.
By the time the Alexanders arrived, the community had an established name and other minority residents who had found no land for sale in Pearisburg - the Hopkinses, the Ramseys, the Carters and the Joneses.
Alexander remembers a white Pearisburg woman, Nannie Ballard, with fondness because it was she who named the area and sold land there to minority families when few people would.
There were other difficulties, Alexander remembers.
When Pearisburg opened its new pool and tennis courts in the early '60s, it was clear minorities weren't welcome even though they had donated to the project.
Attitudes have changed with time and Alexander no longer feels unwelcome. Yet, she can't forget the earlier slights.
Her feelings about annexation are equally strong. "It's uncalled for. ... we have struggled so hard to even get the land to build our homes on.
"We're older now, some of us are retiring, and some of us are low in income and we're struggling today."
Several houses away, lives the woman neighbors have nicknamed "Annexation Annie."
Waging the battle against annexation has almost become a second career for Ann Webb, a retired Giles High School teacher.
Since learning of Pearisburg's plans last year, Webb, 73, has become the most vocal and visible fixture at Town Council and supervisors meetings. She has logged hours writing to state and local officials and rallying the neighborhood to fight the annexation. A room in her house is devoted to her battle.
The town has been "extravagant" in recent years, she said, and she doesn't believe she - or other Virginia Heights residents - should have to pay for that.
"I don't approve of paying other people's bills," she said. Webb is referring to property bought by the town in recent years: the former King Johnston School, which has been turned into a recreation center; and a former church building, which is scheduled to become the new library. Webb considers those old bills because she was not a town resident when the decision was made to start the projects.
Money for the projects came from Pearisburg's funds, much of which comes from taxes. A state grant for the library fell through.
Also, Webb said, the community does not use the town's services. Webb surveyed 76 community residents and found 90 percent or more do not work, worship, shop, or eat in Pearisburg. Most also don't use town recreation facilities, the library, or the community center.
Harry and Shirley Johnson live down the hill from Catherine Alexander. Passers-by cannot help but know their sentiments.
"We are opposed to annexation," reads the large sign Harry Johnson placed next to his house. A man of few words, he lets his sign speak for him.
But Shirley Johnson speaks often. "The town has nothing to offer us," she says. "If they could promise definite services, something that would be beneficial to the area," that might change her mind, she said.
Since Shirley Johnson first heard the word "annexation," she has attended town and county board meetings. Whether the Virginia Heights residents win the fight or not, she plans to "keep a watchful eye" on local government.
While others only complain about annexation, Barbara Hobbs filed to become a candidate for a seat on the Board of Supervisors, representing the Central District.
And though she says annexation and her opposition to it influenced her decision to run for local office, Hobbs, 57, said it was not the overriding one.
"I think the total disregard for the people to be annexed is the straw that broke the camel's back. The people weren't asked or consulted before the two governing bodies met behind closed doors and approved it," the former Giles County administrator said.
Givens said the idea for annexing county land surfaced in 1991 or 1992. But the concept has been discussed as far back as the 1960s.
With her vast storehouse of knowledge about government, Hobbs has advised her neighbors in the battle to defeat annexation, telling them to be a persistent presence at government meetings and to learn as much about the criteria for annexation as possible.
Hobbs voiced concern that residents of other communities due to be annexed in the two-phase agreement do not seem to understand that they must stand and be counted at the hearing Monday night.
Some communities, such as Fairview Acres and Hidden Meadows, will not be annexed until after Jan. 1, 1999. Hobbs fears those people believe they have until then to voice opposition.
But they have to speak now, Hobbs said, because once the agreement is approved, it's a done deal.
"If the Commission [on Local Government] decides that the annexation cannot be done in phases, it will all be thrown together and happen at the same time," Hobbs said.
She thinks the state law that allows for annexation is wrong. "It's good for government and bad for the people involved," Hobbs commented.
J.W. Wood believes Pearisburg needs new territory to shore up its tax base. Not content with the available information, he has researched the minutes of Pearisburg Town Council meetings as far back as 1972 in an effort to understand when and why the idea surfaced.
Wood has noticed some trends: Recreation Department funding has grown from $47,597 in 1985 to a proposed $106,735 for the 1995-96 budget. At the same time, interest from investment income has plummeted, from a high of $46,620 to about $6,800, according to town records.
Wood, 45, and his wife, Betsy, left the town to build their home in Virginia Heights. He cites two major reasons why he thinks annexation is not justified:
What he sees as the town's apparently weak financial position
Its lack of growth.
More than 40 percent of the town area is undeveloped or vacant, according to his research.
He said Pearisburg is not "bursting at the seams" with growth, which can be a criterion in gaining approval from the state.
According the State Code, annexation cannot be used to bail a municipality out of a financial mess. Mayor Givens said firmly that the town is not in a financial mess. There is "no way," he said, that the town coffers are suffering from financial distress.
Wood believes that the town will not provide any new services to the areas due to be annexed because it has not fully taken care of current residents' needs.
Annexed in 1944, residents of Mountain View subdivision are still waiting for anticipated sewer lines. Other areas of the town, Wood said, like Maple Avenue, suffer from extremely low water pressure, and have for more than 40 years. He has a petition from those residents to prove it.
Wood has accepted leadership of the Virginia Heights group because he's disturbed by the "roughshod manner of some of the officials" his neighbors have dealt with. Citizens' questions have been ignored, he said. And he's angry about the euphemisms of "growth area study" and "boundary adjustment" used by town officials in public meetings, attempts, he says, to conceal their plans. He wonders why it was mentioned in 23 executive sessions and never once in public, until town officials revealed their intention in 1994.
"It is no wonder that people are becoming more cynical and distrustful of government. I guess personally, that's the worst part for me," Wood concluded.
Under Wood's guidance, Virginia Heights residents have organized. They've attended meetings. They have canvassed the neighborhood to prove their lack of a common interest with the town. They have talked with Pearisburg residents who seem to be first in line for promised services that have not happened from earlier annexations.
The residents have pored over minutes of public meetings, examined past budgets, taken photos of their community, signed petitions, and written letters to state officials. Additionally, they have hired a lawyer, Warren Neily of Christiansburg, to help make their case against becoming part of Pearisburg.
And they've forged even stronger ties. Last Saturday night, they celebrated their closeness at a potluck supper held at the Woods' home.
They met under a tent borrowed from a local funeral director. Some community members saw it as symbolic. "We have come tonight to bury annexation," Brenda Johnson said.
A public hearing on Pearisburg's proposed annexation of Virginia Heights and several other county neighborhoods will be held Monday at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of Giles High School.
by CNB