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

DATE: TUESDAY, September 5, 1995                   TAG: 9509070109
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MONTGOMERY'S WIN-WIN LAND SWAP

THINK BACK on all the acrimonious annexation fights that split Virginia's local governments in the past - some leaving a residue of bitterness that has yet to dissolve.

Consider, too, how boundary angst continues today. It spurs such responses as the proposed merger of Bedford city with Bedford County - an attempt to defeat the bogeyman of Lynchburg's possible future annexation of county land.

Now note, in contrast, the peaceful transfer of land from Montgomery County to Christiansburg at midnight last Friday night. The propery went from the county to the town with nary a ruffle of dissent or shot being fired.

To be sure, the transferred parcel is measured in acres - about 200 - rather than in the miles that annexation suits usually entail. Yet it is still to Montgomery and Christiansburg leaders' credit that they negotiated a deal in the interest of both jurisdictions.

In the process, they demonstrated a kind of regional cooperation that in these parts is more often preached than practiced.

The land grant expanding the town's municipal boundaries is intended to help promote economic development that will benefit the entire area. Primarily, it will aid development of the county's planned industrial park at Falling Branch Road and Interstate 81, with the county and town agreeing to share expenses.

The industrial park has been Montgomery County's top economic-development priority since 1993, when it lost a fiber-optics prospect to Winston-Salem, N.C., in part because the county lacked readily available industrial sites.

Under the win-win deal, Christiansburg will gain tax revenue from the industrial park and from prime acreage behind Marketplace shopping center. In turn, the town will build water and sewer lines to the industrial park, the site of which is already within the town's utility service area - at a significant savings for the county.

This is not just a nice result. It's a good idea worth expanding on. The New Century Council's recently released proposals for long-term regional strategies include one to build office parks around the area, with local governments sharing the costs and revenues.

A sustained show of regional leadership could prove that invisible boundary lines need not remain Berlin Walls blocking urgently needed cooperation.

by CNB