ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 TAG: 9702270008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ELLISTON
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
It has hopped from a flood plain to an old school building. Now a future library may settle on land just a few hundred yards from the planned new high school.
In December, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors purchased 34.5 acres of land on U.S. 11/460 near Elliston to build a larger school to replace the present overcrowded building.
Members of the Library Building Committee are looking at about three acres of that site to add a new branch in the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.
"We're looking at the back side of the land," where the school isn't likely to build, said Library Board member David McCrumb, who lives in Shawsville.
Last week, the School Board sent a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Joe Gorman asking to be updated on any shared land possibilities.
"If we can work it out I don't have a problem," said School Board Chairwoman Annette Perkins. "I would want it done so that it is mutually beneficial."
Perkins said the board is just beginning to design conceptual drawings for the high school. Community members involved with developing the school's educational goals wanted a large gym and athletic fields, items lacking in the rural community.
With the addition of a library, Perkins said, "it could become a real community area. The concept is great, I just don't know the specifics."
Acting Library Director Jo Brown said specifics just aren't available yet. The Library Building Committee met Tuesday night, and Brown said it agreed to look at several sites, including the high school land.
She said a decision on a site wouldn't come until April at the earliest.
In the past two years, Shawsville, Elliston and Ironto-area residents have pledged more than $300,000 for the library, McCrumb said.
Last year, anonymous donors offered a 2.6 acre site near the Shawsville Elementary School. That site was rejected because part of it sat either in or near the 100-year flood plain of the South Fork of the Roanoke River.
When the new high school is built, the middle school will move from its cramped quarters across the road to the present high school building. Some had discussed renovating the middle school for the library.
But, "we weren't sure where, or when, there would be a new high school," McCrumb said. "People just want a concrete plan."
McCrumb said there was some speculation about building one large library within the new high school. That possibility was dropped because of potential problems, such as who would get preferential use of the library during school hours and what kind of materials to buy.
Gorman said sharing the same land - and likely the same parking lots - would be an efficient use of space.
But, "it would have been a whole lot easier if we had done this before" the board bought land for the school, he said.
The land is being purchased with Virginia Public School Authority bonds, which can only be used for school purposes. If a portion of the site is selected for the library, the Board of Supervisors would have to buy it back from the school system.
Last year, the county's Capital Improvement Program committee recommended spending $25,000 to study the feasibility of a Shawsville branch. Now, the Library Board is hoping the money can be used for architectural drawings once a site is chosen.
With the closest library at least 20 miles from most residents, said Brown, the need has already been established. The Library Board made the Shawsville-area library project a priority after the Blacksburg branch renovation and expansion neared completion last year.
"We have a bookmobile service that's always well-received," she said, "but it only comes a few times a month, and only to a few places."
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