ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601220026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings Monday on rezonings and a comprehensive plan change for Radford Community Hospital's plans to relocate to a new site near Interstate 81.
Meanwhile, the Xpress Market Inc. rezoning case from Riner, which was to have come up Monday, will be pushed back to February.
The Board of Supervisors meets at 7 p.m. Monday on the third floor of the Montgomery County Courthouse in downtown Christiansburg.
The Radford hospital rezoning includes three separate parcels totaling 111 acres off Barn and Tyler roads, just south of the I-81, Virginia 177 interchange, which is one of the major gateways to Radford University.
The supervisors typically do not act on matters the same night as a public hearing. The county Planning Commission, which also will attend the hearing, must make a recommendation first.
The hospital, which is awaiting state approval of its plans, holds options to buy the land. Last month, the supervisors approved the removal of 40 acres of the proposed hospital site from a county agricultural and forestal district. That step enabled Radford Community to move ahead with the rezoning request (most of the land was not in the conservation district).
In November, the county approved a utilities agreement with Radford Community to provide water and sewer service to the site. Under the contract, the hospital will pay nearly $2 million to extend county utility lines beneath I-81. The hospital could recoup a small portion of that amount, some $300,000, should its new building spur related development nearby over the coming five years.
The comprehensive plan amendment for the hospital, the subject of the other public hearing, would enlarge the interchange's "urban expansion area" to include all of the proposed new site. This step is necessary because the plan was written back when Radford Community had its eye on a property that was closer to the Radford line along Virginia 177. The hospital changed to the current site last year before it filed for state approval. The amendment would add 45 acres into the urban expansion area.
Also Monday, the board will hold a first public hearing on the 1996-97 county budget. The total budget proposal won't come out until next month, though the county School Board currently is debating a $53 million proposed school budget that would require a 12 percent spending increase. The supervisors typically hold a public hearing in January to allow people to have a say on spending needs. This hearing was held earlier in the month and drew no speakers. The board rescheduled it for Monday because the earlier meeting had been rescheduled twice because of the major snowstorm of Jan. 6-7.
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