ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER MILLER STAFF WRITER
While Roanoke Valley greenway advocates look for funds and places to put linear parks, some Virginia Tech students are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.
Last week, seven landscape architecture majors presented their designs to revive Garst Mill Park to a group of William Fleming High School students. Their plans include constructing a biking and walking trail in the park off Garst Mill Road in Roanoke County.
"This will potentially be the first part of the [Roanoke Valley] greenways system, a regionalwide issue," said Jeff Balon, superintendent of Roanoke County Parks and Recreation.
Their proposal would link the 27-acre park with Southwoods, Cresthill and Windsor West, three nearby neighborhoods.
The students were brought together by a $40,000 federal grant to Tech's Community Design Assistance Center. The grant is designed to introduce college and high school students - in this case, 13 from Fleming who are studying architecture and engineering as part of Fleming's magnet program - to address environmental problems within communities.
The Tech students' goal is to provide hands-on experience; the Fleming students hope to learn from that.
Fleming teacher Andy McClung said the partnership between the Fleming and Tech students began in February, when Tech students visited the high school to present their initial plans to renovate the park. Fleming students then visited the Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies.
"It has given [Fleming students] the chance to see the landscape architecture department of Virginia Tech and to meet students in higher education," McClung said.
Fleming senior Raytheon Copney, who is waiting for a letter of acceptance from Tech, said his participation in the Tech program has given him a head start for college.
"I didn't think [designing a park] would take so much time and effort," Copney said. "I got a feel for landscape architecture and how [Tech students] feel about things."
Tech students also walked away from the program feeling pretty good about their efforts.
"As you go through school, you are designing for you," junior Matt Plecity said. "It feels pretty good to go back and teach a little of what you know."
On Tuesday, the plan will be submitted for consideration to the Fifth Planning District Commission, which is spearheading other greenway efforts in the Roanoke Valley.
The Tech students' designs offer a location for the greenway, ways to prevent streambank erosion, and methods of restoring the surrounding ecosystem. The park is located in a flood plain, and the students were concerned with bank erosion along Mud Lick Creek, which borders the park. They hope that through the use of natural materials such as soil and logs and other environmentally sensitive techniques, the ecosystem of the park will be preserved.
Balon said that the renovation of the park will begin almost immediately. The sewer system already has been replaced, and construction on the greenway is next on the list.
He said the trail likely will be asphalt. However, it may be more economical to construct the path from stone dust until the streambank erosion is under control.
Balon said that about $20,000 has been set aside in the parks and recreation budget for the greenway. An additional $1,000 is coming from a grant to Tech from the DuPont Foundation.
Balon will not know the greenway's exact cost or completion date and other renovations until final construction plans are ready.
Balon assured the Tech students that whenever the greenway is finished, they would be invited to present it to the community. "What they have done is fantastic," he said. "I applaud their vision and the thoroughness of their work."
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