ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703170001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-24 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RINER
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE THE ROANOKE TIMES
As Principal Jeff Perry drives through the sharp turns and hilly landscape, he points out the sure signs of children.
"There's a basketball hoop," he says, nodding toward a new home with a backboard hanging above garage doors. "So there's at least a high school kid living there - at least one."
Just three years ago, Perry says as he turns down Fairview Church Road, cattle were the only thing tramping the sprawling fields that now bear the weight of dozens of homes.
Compared to all the subdivisions popping up or expanding in the area, a new golf course development proposed for Riner is the least of Perry's concerns.
Perry, now at Bethel Elementary School, will head an elementary school under construction in Riner. The new school, which will combine the present Riner school and Bethel, should be ready by the fall of 1998.
The school will hold 750 children; Perry expects about 600 when the doors open. Should it reach capacity, the school would be the largest in the county - large enough to prevent most educators from wanting to add any more rooms or pupils.
Facilities and Maintenance Director Larry Schoff estimates 95 to 115 pupils would move into the area if the golf course development were completed; about 60 percent would attend the new school. Of course, the number of children would depend on whether retired people or young families bought the homes, Schoff says.
Either way, says Perry, the development would be just another drop in the enrollment bucket. Subdivisions such as Auburn Acres, Lawrence Estates, Lucas Estates and Ridgeway Farm Estates will continue to bring more young people to his school.
Still, the popularity of the Riner area can be positive. Perry says he is noticing a more diverse group of children, and that makes for a more challenging student body.
As he drives away from the heart of Riner, green hills and open pastures beckon development.
"This is very flat, accessible land," he says. "This could easily be turned into residential - real quick."
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB