ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 25, 1996 TAG: 9612260033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE HAGER-SMITH STAFF WRITER
The Radford City Council is making a list and checking it twice.
Monday night, council received requests for a $547,000 storm drainage system, a $775,000 parking lot and $56,000 for renovations to the historic Glencoe house. The projects vie for council's largesse, along with a long-overdue courthouse project and a proposed new recreation building. It may take a sack, a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer to honor every request.
A leaky roof at Glencoe thrust architect Bob Rogers to the front of the line of those waiting to deliver their wish lists to council. The old Wharton homeplace was donated to the city by Kollmorgen last month. It will serve as a Radford history museum once renovations are complete. Funding for the project has been set aside since last fall, so the emergency repairs only required general approval and release of those funds.
Next up were improvements to the Heth Reservation drainage system. They are designed to prevent localized flooding which has long plagued the area, roughly from Tyler Avenue east and north to the river. Changes that would make the system adequate under present conditions cost only $22,000 less than upgrades that could accommodate a sharply increasing population density.
Council decided in short order to fund the higher cost scenario.
The city will take advantage of improvements already planned by the Virginia Department of Transportation for widening Jefferson Street between Tyler and Norwood, a project slated for completion next fall. The VDOT plan will route Jefferson Street runoff to a detention pond at the end of Adams Street, between Norwood and the Norfolk Southern rail lines.
The city's plan, as proposed by consulting engineers Finkbeiner, Pettis & Strout, would employ huge, 54-inch pipes to divert drainage from the new pond, beneath the tracks and into the river beyond. The upsized lines will prevent water from rushing along the culvert near the tracks, picking up debris, and subsequently inhibiting flow in the vicinity of the Dedmon Center.
The plan also calls for upsizing pipes and increasing grade for four other lines. Construction would take place on the:
*Dedmon Center Line - from the tracks to the Dedmon Center;
*Mid-Area Line - along Fairfax Street, near Madison, and from Norwood Street to the tracks, between Madison and Burlington;
*Burlington Street Line - in a diagonal swath from Downey to Wilson, on Fairfax Street at Calhoun, and from Norwood Street to the tracks, at Burlington;
*Madison Street Line - from Norwood Street to the tracks, at Madison.
Also on Monday's agenda was Michael Gay, who presented the preliminary engineering report for a proposed parking lot behind several buildings on Norwood Street, which would extend from approximately the Norwood Center to Wall's Jewelers.
The 75-space lot would be entered from Norwood Street between Uncle Bill's Furniture and Bargain Mary's Consignment shop. A ramp wide enough for a pedestrian walkway, as well as cars, would lead up to the lot, which would be at the second-floor level of existing buildings. It would effectively form the middle step in a three-step tier bound by Norwood Street on the low side and Pickett Street above. The entire lot would be surrounded by a retaining wall. On the west end, a stairway would lead out of the lot, up to Pickett Street.
The project was initiated in July by Eddie Cox, co-owner of the Radford Fitness Center and of several other properties in the downtown area. He enlisted the aid of Main Street Radford's Bud Jeffries, who made a formal proposal to council in October.
Cox owns the burned-out building, formerly Carson Drugs, which would be demolished to create a main entrance to the lot. He is willing to donate it for that purpose, along with a 10-foot-wide section of the adjoining Uncle Bill's Furniture Building.
Post-top lantern style lights would match those on Norwood, and plans call for parking islands with trees. The existing brick facades of the two demolished structures would be retained for their charming arched windows and the continuity they lend to the appearance of the business district. Vintage painted advertisements on newly exposed brick along the access ramp could be inexpensively restored. Gay also suggested that a wrought iron sign hanger could be restored and used for a parking "shingle."
The south retaining wall would be topped with a guard rail, concealed by a hedge of wintergreen barberry, a thorny shrub that would keep pedestrians away from the wall. Some improvements to Pickett Street would also be precipitated by the project, including a new asphalt overlay, new curb for storm water drainage, the addition of several streetside trees and pedestrian lighting to match that in the parking lot.
Business leaders and council were dismayed by the preliminary cost estimate of $775,000 by Gay Engineering. Council member Polly Corn said the initial proposal gave hope it would cost half that figure, and business owner Cox later said he had expected something closer to $500,000.
He was optimistic, however. "Radford has never had this level of agreement on a concept before. That's where this has been a little different."
Council deferred action on the parking lot plan.
Capital for so many worthwhile projects is as scarce as Tickle Me Elmo Dolls.
When council opens its package, it will find just three funding options, which it might use in combination: (1) Adjustments to the annual budget that would pull from other funded projects; (2) appropriating reserve funds, all of which would be required for just one project - the new courthouse; and (3) borrowing in the form of general obligation bonds.
Citizens may be inspired at this time of year to hope for a miracle on Norwood Street.
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