Sunday, October 11, 2009
Editorial: Christiansburg's concrete conspiracy
Town council cemented a monopoly in the concrete market.
From the RoundTable blog
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Last week, Christiansburg Town Council did a huge favor for the town's only concrete company when it prevented a potential competitor from opening. It must be nice to have friends in high places.
The loser in the offing -- besides the public, local construction firms and civic integrity -- was Boxley Materials Company, which wanted to build a $2 million plant on land in the town industrial park.
On Tuesday, council sent the company packing on a 4-1 vote. Councilmen Ernie Wade, Brad Stipes, Mike Barber and Jim Vanhoozier supported the resolution denying the company permission to build. Only Councilman Henry Showalter opposed it. Mayor Richard Ballengee was absent, and Vice Mayor Ann Carter would only have voted if there were a tie.
The quartet of opposition cited concerns about dust, heavy trucks and the fact that everyone seemed to think the park was zoned for light industry, not a concrete plant.
Those all sounded good from the dais, but they were just so much smoke. Boxley planned a modern plant that would create little dust, just like a plant it operates in Roanoke. The industrial park's roads were built to handle heavy trucks, and the site is conveniently close to U.S. 460 and Interstate 81 off Roanoke Street.
As for the zoning, the park has long been zoned general, not light, industrial, which allows concrete plants unless council and staff invoke extreme measures. Anyone who thought otherwise had not looked at the publicly available map.
Council's real objection was more parochial: The new plant might take business away from Marshall Concrete Products, which operates the only concrete plant in town.
Since when does the council have a right to preserve a monopoly?
Maybe Marshall would have had to trim staff if its market share shrank, but Boxley would have brought in new staff that offset that. Boxley also would have created competition in the marketplace, potentially saving money on construction projects, including those undertaken by the town.
Once upon a time Marshall was a local business, but today a North Carolina firm owns it. In this fight, Boxley has the deeper local roots. That company was founded in Giles County more than a century ago and the same family still runs it from Southwest Virginia.
Worst of all, council set a horrible precedent. It elevated existing businesses and jobs above new ones. Showalter drove that point home when he asked his colleagues what they would do if local retailers complain that a Sam's Club might take away their customers. Would they find another obscure bit of code to prevent that business from opening, too?
Government's responsibility is to foster a fair, free market bound by sensible regulations that promote the common good. On Tuesday, four council members instead played favorites.
