ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030028
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
If Dublin Mayor Benny Keister couldn't stop grinning Tuesday, nobody could blame him. It's not every day that a six-year dream comes true.
That's how long Keister and other town officials had been working toward a new municipal building, for which they broke ground Tuesday. The 9,168-square-foot brick building is scheduled to be completed in February.
"I hope you're as proud of this as I am," Keister told the crowd attending the groundbreaking.
Town Manager Gary Elander remembered the Saturday in February 1990 when Keister came by the town hall and took Elander and several council members for a drive out to the former Burlington Industries property.
Why, asked Keister, couldn't the town acquire at least some of that 270 acres and use it as an industrial park?
By 1993, the town had done just that. After three years of negotiating with Burlington, Dublin purchased 101 acres of land with 10 buildings. In late 1994, Burlington donated the rest of the land and the other six buildings to the town. Today, 14 companies pay to use those buildings for shipping, receiving and assembly work.
That income is helping the town fund the new municipal building and other improvements to 18 acres of the former Burlington property, now known as the Dublin Town Center. The First National Bank of Christiansburg became its first business, with a branch bank that should be completed next month. The town is also awaiting U.S. government approval to put a new 20,551-square-foot post office on a lot in the Town Center.
"That commitment, we feel now, is just a few weeks off," Elander said.
"And I want you to know there'll be a big parking lot," Keister said. Lack of parking space has been a big complaint at the existing post office in downtown Dublin.
"We wanted a new town hall, folks. We'd outgrown the one we had," Keister said. "We want this to be a point of pride for the entire Dublin community."
The front will be a green area with flowers, shrubs, walking trails and maybe a fountain, he said, as a place for arts or crafts shows and other community activities. "We want it to be well used," Keister said. "If we wear out the grass, we'll just plant more."
The town hall will be built by Snyder Associates of Blacksburg. Martin and Co. of Radford was the architect. Anderson & Associates of Blacksburg designed the roads and utilities, now about 75 percent complete.
"It's a great job, and it shows all around here everywhere," said New River Community College President Ed Barnes.
The building will include a large customer service area, Police Department offices, Town Council chambers, administrative office, space for future use and office space for Pulaski County to provide some county services in it.
The county is participating financially in the project as well. Board of Supervisors Chairman Joe Sheffey called it "an important endeavor ... another working relationship in which the county and the towns are able to work together."
"None of this is possible without an active Town Council," Keister said. "We don't always agree. Boy, we have some good ones sometimes! But it seems that we always come up with the right answer."
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