ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 19, 1996 TAG: 9602190076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
RESIDENTS ARE BRACING for another battle against possible development; but this time, it is less evident what may be in store for the farm.ba resident
As you top Catawba Mountain on Virginia 311, one of the first eye-catching views is a cattle farm with rolling pastures and a creek running through the middle of it.
Folk at the Catawba Valley General Store, at the bottom of the mountain, say the view is hailed by hikers crossing the Appalachian Trail and cyclists riding through the countryside.
They say "this is one of the most beautiful areas on their routes," store co-owner Marie Saul says.
Drivers pull to the side of the road and snap pictures, she says. On a nice day, cars are lined up along both sides of the road.
"There's not too many places like this left," Catawba resident Carol Reynolds says.
But the research farm used by Virginia Tech, a 400-acre spread that contributes most to that picture of how America once was, is a prime target for development.
Catawba Valley has been threatened with unwelcome development before. Residents have successfully fought plans for a prison and a training center for highway workers.
They are bracing for another fight against possible development; but this time, it is less evident what may be in store for the farm.
It has been placed on a list of surplus land that Gov. George Allen wants to sell to help fund the 1996-98 state budget.
When Catawba residents learned of that several weeks ago, they quickly voiced their concerns and caught the attention of Roanoke County Supervisor F.F. "Spike" Harrison, who represents the Catawba district.
Harrison wrote a letter to state Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, and House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, asking for the land to be preserved as open space.
"We would prefer that the state retain ownership of it for agricultural uses, or in the alternative, donate it to Roanoke County so that we may protect that part of the valley," Harrison's letter read.
Harrison says he would like to see the land turned into a park, perhaps tying in with the Appalachian Trail.
Catawba cattle farmers Frank and Louise Garman recently visited Cranwell and Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke, to share their concerns about the land being sold.
"They didn't give us assurance that it would be taken off" the proposed list, Frank Garman says. "But they were supportive."
David Eyers, president of the Catawba Civic League, says the group would support that idea.
"We're going to support our local government to try to attract that as a park," Eyers says. The civic league met about two weeks ago, and the research farm was the hottest topic of the evening, he says.
The state has estimated that the research farm could be worth $1.2 million on the open market.
With that price tag, some residents are skeptical about the chances of the land being turned into a park.
"Of all the things I've heard it to be, a park is the most appealing," says Laura Shinault, who owns 110 acres of farmland adjacent to the research farm. "But with the price tag, I don't know how realistic that is.
"Somebody's not going to buy it and change it into farmland."
The state first used the site as a farm for a tuberculosis sanitorium, which was later converted into Catawba Hospital. Virginia Tech took it over and used it for an agricultural research center.
But cutbacks at Tech have caused many of the farm's operations to be moved to Montgomery County. Few cattle remain on the farm.
"It's a beautiful piece of land," says Catawba resident Eric Trethewey, an English professor at Hollins College.
"We've always known as long as the land was there," someone would have ideas for it, he says.
Trethewey was among the Catawba residents who helped derail the state's plans to put a prison farm on the land in the late 1980s. A few years later, after another strong campaign by residents, Tech scrapped a proposal to lease 10 to 20 acres of the farm to the Virginia Department of Transportation for a training center.
Trethewey also is skeptical of the land being donated to Roanoke County.
"I don't think that would be a happy resolution," he says. "The county is far more likely to do something shortsighted than the state."
Saul's biggest fears are that a developer might buy the farm and turn it into a subdivision, or that it might become an industrial site.
"Most of the residents around here would like it left as it is," she says.
But not everyone in the Catawba Valley is dead set against the land being developed.
Kevin Wingate, general manager of The Homestead restaurant, says development already is happening in Catawba, and it would be naive to think that it will end.
"Ten to 12 years ago, this area was a lot more rural than it is now," says Wingate, who grew up near the Catawba Valley.
"I'd hate to see it developed really out and out," he says. But "if somebody buys a piece of property and tries to make money, I don't have a problem with that."
Most people fear someone's buying the property and splitting it into half-acre or quarter-acre lots, Wingate says.
"Most of the time, that's not reality," he says.
Development could be spaced and controlled, Wingate says.
But civic league members and others who have fought development in the past will continue to fight for the preservation of the research farm.
"There is pretty much a unanimous disapproval of wholesale development." Eyers says.
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. The research farm used by Virginiaby CNBTech, as seen from the top of Catawba Mountain on Virginia 311, is a
prime target for development. 2. Laura Shinault, who owns 110 acres
of farmland adjacent to the research farm, says: "Of all the things
I've heard it to be, a park is the most appealing. But with the
price tag, I don't know how realistic that is. Somebody's not going
to buy it and change it into farmland." Catawba Valley has been
threatened with unwelcome development before. Residents have
successfully fought plans for a prison and a training center for
highway workers. color. Graphic: Map by staff. color.