ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 9, 1997 TAG: 9701100136
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
Montgomery County and Christiansburg are engaged in some give and take over municipal boundaries and utility service lines.
Part of an agreement struck this week between the county Board of Supervisors and Christiansburg Town Council over utility service may be an important step forward for a proposed residential development on Price Mountain.
Both government bodies approved allowing the county's Public Service Authority to expand its coverage boundary and build water and sewer lines to part of William H. Price's residential development.
In July, Price won county approval of his request to rezone 400 acres on Price Mountain for the development. But the project could not move forward until the issue of providing utility service to the site was resolved.
Under the new agreement, Christiansburg will allow the county PSA to cross the town's land to build the new utility lines.
The PSA will also be allowed to hook those lines into Christiansburg's water and wastewater treatment system. However, service volume limits negotiated about a decade ago as part of an annexation agreement between Christiansburg and Montgomery County will remain in place.
In return, Christiansburg can build sewer lines across county land to serve development near Farmview Lane and the U.S. 460 bypass.
The agreement between Montgomery County and Christiansburg does not affect the unresolved issue of utility access to Price's development across land in the town of Blacksburg.
The linchpin of the proposed agreement involves another boundary adjustment. Presently, the county-town boundary runs across part of the Christiansburg Industrial Park, near Interstate 81's exit 118.
The agreement calls for that boundary to be changed so that 32 acres of town-owned land in the industrial park can be shifted from the county to Christiansburg.
Placing the town-owned 32 acres inside Christiansburg's municipal boundaries will head off any problems that may arise if the land is sold to an industrial client, officials said.
To transfer the land, the county and town must hold a joint public hearing - which may be scheduled for next month - and obtain the approval of a Circuit Court judge.
Until then, the utility boundary adjustments won't become official, according to the agreement.
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