ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070036
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech's offer to earmark land on Price Mountain as open space to offset acreage that could be lost to the "smart" road is a "win/win solution," Tech President Paul Torgersen says.
Torgersen's offer, outlined in a May 28 letter to Montgomery County Board of Supervisors Chairman Henry Jablonski, became public Wednesday night at a meeting of the county Planning Commission. The group voted 6-1 to recommend that the supervisors approve a request from the Virginia Department of Transportation to remove 140 acres from an agricultural and forestal district to build the smart road.
In his letter, Torgersen says he has been told "that several Board [of Supervisors] members have expressed concern about the loss of open space in the county if the acreage in the agricultural district is reduced. Accordingly, I am prepared to commit on behalf of the university, an acre for acre exchange of open space in the county as an alternative."
Jablonski said Thursday the offer appeared to be made "in the spirit of trying to work out a solution" and to deal with public concerns about the loss of open space. "I don't know how the board will choose to deal with this."
Open space on Price Mountain - the dominant ridge between Blacksburg and Christiansburg - has been a key issue as the county considers William H. Price's request to rezone 538 acres of land he owns on the mountain and build 534 housing units. A public hearing on Price's proposal will be held June 24.
John Lipsey, who stands to lose 65 acres of his farm to the smart road, said Tech's proposal "makes them almost admit that this is an important loss to the agricultural and forestal district."
The smart road, a planned six-mile link between southern Blacksburg and Interstate 81, has been promoted as a proving ground for new transportation technology and a boost for Virginia Tech.
Supporters say the project will relieve traffic and create jobs. Critics say the road is unnecessary and will damage the environment.
Although the request to remove land from the conservation district officially comes from VDOT, Tech has been a key player in the smart road debate because it would be conducting the research on the road.
Torgersen said in his open-space proposal that Tech's Price Mountain property "is similar in topography, resources and rural character to the land in question" in the district from which the 140 acres would be taken.
After the state acquires the 140 acres in the Ellett Valley for the smart road, Tech would reserve an unidentified tract from its Price Mountain property "for preservation on the same terms and conditions imposed" on land in other county conservation districts.
Setting aside the land "would ensure there is no net loss of open space in the County ... and create the basis for a win/win solution for Virginia Tech, Montgomery County, and the environment," Torgersen said.
But Shireen Parsons, president of the local Sierra Club and a critic of the smart road, said the offer is not an even exchange. "They're taking out a middle swath of this larger area" and replacing it in an isolated area, she said.
"That's absolutely meaningless to the landowners in Ellett Valley. It's meaningless to the rest of us, too," Parsons said.
The supervisors will meet Monday at 7 p.m. in Christiansburg High School to decide whether to grant VDOT's request, deny it, or extend the review period another 60 days.
Staff Writer Elissa Milenky contributed information for this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff.by CNB