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BLACKSBURG -- While the old Blacksburg Middle School roof leaks, local officials continue to debate the building's future. It will likely be another year, maybe two, before anything can happen with the 20-acre downtown property.

But members of Blacksburg Town Council and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors expressed optimism Tuesday -- after some open discourse Monday -- that a compromise in the four-year-long debate could be reached.

"There will be bumps in the road, but we've got to look at the long-term vision and not worry about the little bumps," Mayor Ron Rordam said.

The bodies spent more than two hours talking about the future of the old school Monday night and appeared to still be at loggerheads over the zoning of the property.

Some members pointed out that as they argue, the building continues to deteriorate. The roof leaks and some discussed the possibility of a cave-in -- a liability issue and a situation in which taxpayer money will need to be spent on a building not being used.

The old Blacksburg Middle School Transition Committee -- made up of members of both governmental bodies and at-large members -- made a recommendation Monday to co-sponsor an international design contest to solicit ideas from architects, designers and developers inside and outside the New River Valley for redevelopment of the old school.

Supervisors immediately wanted assurances that after the contest the council would rezone the property from its current low-density residential designation to a different, potentially more developer-friendly category that would increase the land's value to several million dollars. The money from the sale of the property would then be spent on school building projects. But council would not make any promises about what it might approve for the site.

Despite the continued debate, supervisors Chairman Steve Spradlin said Tuesday he was encouraged by the discussion.

"The kind of talk we had ... frank, honest and open ... I think that has to continue," Spradlin said. "It's been four years. We need to get some kind of resolution."

Rordam and Spradlin said they would put the design contest on their meeting agendas over the next month or so and work on consensus among their members.

Ideally, the supervisors would negotiate a sale or lease of the property with the winner of the contest, and council would rezone the property to fit that design. Estimated costs for the competition are $150,000 -- to include a cash prize for the contest winner. The cost would be shared equally between the town and county. That is unless one elected body decides to pull out after the contest begins. Under the proposal, the welsher would pay the entire amount.

A similar contest held in 1992 to redesign the Blacksburg branch of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library brought the two bodies together and still serves as a guide for development of the downtown municipal complex.

Rordam said he would work with council to come up with a list of possible zoning classifications for the property. But some of the more lucrative, including general commercial and high-density residential, would probably not make that list, Rordam said.

Compromise will be crucial to the future of the old school. The county school board holds title to the land and must declare it surplus. At that point, it could be turned over to the supervisors for sale.

Only the supervisors have the legal authority to sell the property, school board member Wat Hopkins has said.

And the sale will likely be contingent upon the town council's rezoning of the property.

For now, the school board is holding onto the property as insurance. The board resolved in 2002 to release the old school for sale only when the supervisors meet three criteria: opening a new Blacksburg High School sports stadium; buying land for a new Price's Fork Elementary School; and earmarking money from the sale of the old middle school for school building needs.

Construction is set to begin in the next few months on a new stadium, and the supervisors have promised to put any money from the building into the schools capital improvement budget. But Spradlin and his board are still working on buying land for a new Price's Fork Elementary School.