ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 9, 1996 TAG: 9604090046
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY SPRINKLE
IN HIS March 6 letter to the editor (``Budget shenanigans in Botetourt County schools?), David Emeigh made statements and drew conclusions that I believe are erroneous, misleading and require some clarification.
While the Lord Botetourt High School campus may have been adequate when the school was built in the early '60s, 1 believe anyone familiar with the current membership and program offerings would agree that the campus needed additional acreage, and there was very limited potential for increasing the size of this school site.
The county recognized this need several years ago when the softball field was purchased. About five years ago, the owner of two parcels adjacent to the county property made an inquiry as to whether the School Board would be interested in purchasing that property. During discussion that followed and continued for several months, the mortgage holder reclaimed the property and offered it to the School Board for $55,000. The tax assessment at the time exceeded $55,000 since two dwellings were on the property.
When the School Board requested that the Board of Supervisors either buy the property or provide funds so that the School Board could purchase it, the School Board was advised that the supervisors felt the property wasn't worth the asking price. The owner then sold the back parcel to an individual who had plans to build a home on it. The front parcel was still available, and later the School Board again requested funds to purchase it. The Board of Supervisors agreed to appropriate $75,000 to purchase both parcels, if possible, and to remove the dwellings on the property.
The first parcel was purchased in June 1994, but the owner of the rear parcel declined to sell. The School Board had the dwelling removed from the front parcel, and the county engineer developed a grading plan. The owner of the back property then decided to sell, and the second parcel was purchased in September 1994. The county engineer then revised a grading plan.
The two parcels were graded; a drainage ditch was replaced with underground piping; and the property was seeded. Since the property wasn't paved, there was no requirement for a detention pond. But space is available should one be required in the future.
The property was likely our last chance to increase the acreage of Lord Botetourt High.
I was chairman of the School Board when various contacts and decisions were made regarding the property, and I can assure the public that every effort was made by the School Board to serve the best interests of the school system and the citizens of Botetourt County when decisions on this and other matters were made.
Ray Sprinkle of Fincastle is a real-estate agent and former chairman of the Botetourt County School Board.
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