ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996 TAG: 9608260049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
TAKING IDEAS AND TURNING them into linear parks, hiker-biker paths and on-road cycling lanes for the Roanoke Valley is Elizabeth Belcher's new job. For that, she'll need money.
If Elizabeth Hawk Belcher needs to be reminded of the job ahead of her as the Roanoke Valley's first greenways coordinator, she need only look on the cinder-block wall of her Spartan office at the Fifth Planning District Commission headquarters in downtown Roanoke.
There hangs a large map of Roanoke County, including the town of Vinton and the cities of Roanoke and Salem. Criss-crossing it is a tangle of dotted green and red lines, representing 51 different potential corridors for linear parks, hiker-biker paths and on-road cycling lanes in the valley.
Added together, those corridors would stretch dozens of miles and would put any resident no farther than a 10-minute drive from the nearest greenway.
Except for small bits and pieces here and there, none of the greenways exists. It's Belcher's job to help local government move the greenways off the drawing boards and into parks, neighborhoods and roadway improvements throughout the valley.
"Lots of [planning] work has been done in the last 15 months," said the 44-year-old former forester and Appalachian Trail planner who started her new job Aug. 1. Since then, "I've really been playing catch-up."
Anyone who doubts that the Roanoke County resident's task is formidable ought to consider this: She has no capital budget for building, no funding for land purchases and no staff.
Her coordinator's post, at $27,500 per year, is funded through Aug. 1, 1997, courtesy of the four local governments that chipped in money this fiscal year.
Beyond that, Belcher is not sure where funding will come from. One of the first things the Roanoke Valley Greenways Steering Committee will tackle in the next few months is coming up with a permanent structure to assure funding.
In the meantime, there is much coordinating to accomplish: among local governments; between local governments and the Virginia Department of Transportation; among government agencies within governments; and among interested volunteers Belcher hopes to field.
She's also hoping governing bodies of the four areas will formally adopt the greenways plan.
"If it were adopted by the different valley governments, then they would be considering [greenways] each time they do a sewer easement" or other project, she said.
There is also the question of amassing land and rights of way for the parks. The steering committee is in the process of forming a land trust, which would allow landowners along greenways to donate easements. In exchange, they could get reduced property tax bills.
Another of Belcher's short-range goals is to get a prominently placed greenway underfoot by the end of next summer. The idea is to attract people and create a groundswell of public support for more greenways - something that would prompt area governments to unleash tax dollars.
There are at least four local projects in varying stages of planning and design that may fill that bill:
* With the help of a graduate class from Virginia Tech, designs have been completed for a greenway connecting Cresthill subdivision in Southwest County to Garst Mill Park.
Probably by next summer, Belcher said, "kids in that neighborhood will be able to ride their bikes to that park for soccer practice or baseball practice," relieving parents from having to drive them there on busy roads.
* The city of Roanoke is working on a greenway that would connect the downtown City Market with Mill Mountain Park. It will probably consist of some path building, some on-road sidewalks and directional markers as it winds through Elmwood Park, across the Roanoke River via the Walnut Avenue Bridge and ultimately up Sylvan and Prospect Roads - the now-closed old way up the mountain.
The federal government has granted the city $240,000 for that project, slightly less than half of the $483,000 requested. Planners are trying to figure out if the project can be completed for that amount.
* Salem and Roanoke County have also received federal funding for Hanging Rock Trail along an abandoned railroad line between Salem and the Catawba area. Belcher said she expects at least part of the Salem portion of the trail to be open in the next year.
* A Vinton Boy Scout already has built about three-quarters of a mile of trail connecting Goode Park to Stonebridge Park along Wolf Creek. The town may extend that trail another half-mile between Virginia 24 and Hardy Road.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Belcher. color.by CNB