ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to buy 40 acres from a Riner farmer to build a new elementary school.
The supervisors voted 6-1 to pay Ronald Salmons and the bank that holds the land in trust $330,000, a bit more than $8,000 an acre.
The vote came after several weeks of negotiations. The county wants to build a new elementary school to merge the students from Bethel and Riner elementaries.
Speakers at recent county meetings have favored the new school but had also urged the supervisor to pay Salmons and his family a fair price for the land.
Earlier this year, the supervisors had voted to condemn 40 acres at a price of $2,763 an acre. The supervisors later rescinded that vote and decided to negotiate for 20 acres of the property.
But the county School Board and school backers said that wasn't enough. The supervisors upped the negotiations to 30 acres, then settled on 40 acres Monday night.
Supervisor Nick Rush was the lone dissenter in Monday's vote. At past meetings, he has said the school plan is wrong and based on a flawed study of long-range building needs.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB