ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604150021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
Ronald Salmons had heard rumors - "You know how it is in small towns" - but it wasn't until October he knew for sure.
On a section of Riner farmland his family had owned for 60 years, Montgomery County wanted to build a new elementary school and athletic fields.
"We told them from the very start it wasn't for sale and they made it pretty clear that they was going to use it, even if they had to condemn it," he said.
After six months of private negotiations and three about-face decisions by the Board of Supervisors, the Salmonses agreed to sell 40 acres for $330,000.
The process left a bitter aftertaste for many Riner residents, one county officials are well aware of as they prepare to buy land for a new high school in the Shawsville-Elliston area.
In Riner, some people questioned why an alternative site couldn't have been used and criticized the county for approaching Salmons so late in the game. Others wanted the school - planned strategically behind the present middle and high schools - to alleviate overcrowding in the present Riner Elementary. Still, they hoped Salmons would receive a "fair price."
Most agreed that there had to be a better way to acquire land for new schools.
In most school building projects, the School Board privately surveys potential land, based on recommendations from residents and school employees. The board presents this to the supervisors, who then must negotiate a price with the land owner.
Now, as the site-selection process turns toward new schools in Shawsville, Christiansburg and Blacksburg, a new method has been discussed.
Several supervisors have proposed varying approaches. Basically, the School Board would develop certain criteria for the school site, then the supervisors would announce that publicly.
That way, the county could consider land only from those who want and are ready to sell.
"It seems to me something to look at," agreed Board of Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski. "If none of the offers were suitable, we'd go back" and pursue land privately.
School Board members, who have already voted not to change the present method, said making the process public could hurt negotiations and ultimately raise the price to buy land.
But Supervisor Nick Rush said after struggling through the Riner negotiations, he sees no reason to keep the negotiations private.
"We just paid a little over $8,000 an acre - for farmland - so I don't think it would hurt anything," he said.
It was the flip-flop decisions by the supervisors, School Board Vice Chairman Barry Worth said, that damaged negotiations and increased the price.
"I don't think it would have worked that way if they had stuck to their guns because they were indecisive on this," Worth said.
Much of the indecisiveness stemmed from a community divided over whether to sacrifice farmland for a much-needed school. Making the process public, argued School Board member Mary Beth Dunkenberger of Elliston, has the potential to cause controversy in any community.
"If you decide which side of town the school should be on, that will split the town before the site is even selected," she told the committee this week.
Dunkenberger led the effort to quietly find, and select, a suitable site for a new high school in Shawsville. Because the Shawsville community did not ask for the new high school on the same land as the present schools - as Riner had done - Dunkenberger could choose from several sites in the Elliston and Shawsville areas.
The approximately 30- to 35-acre plot has been recommended to the Board of Supervisors. This entire process has taken place during executive sessions and behind closed doors. The location of the site, say some Shawsville residents, is the best-kept secret going.
At the end of this week's site-selection committee meeting, Jablonski said he would take the idea of making the selection process public back to the supervisors for consideration. Though it may be too late for Shawsville, he said, finding a site for the new middle school in Christiansburg could be done differently.
Then, the committee went into closed session. The purpose: Drive around Christiansburg, looking at potential sites for a new school.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB