www.roanoke.com

Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth said Tuesday that a commercial development proposal for the property has been discussed by town council members at three closed meetings. But Hedgepeth and other town and county officials declined to disclose any details. Blacksburg Town Council member Don Langrehr recently said county officials are "salivating" about the potential to generate money from the property.

Though discussions about the property have "been on the back burner for 18 months," Montgomery County Supervisor John Muffo said Tuesday, there has recently been "a flurry of activity." On Oct. 25, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors held a closed meeting to negotiate with a "prospective business or industry" and will meet in another closed session tonight for the same purpose.

But the Montgomery County School Board seems to be in the dark about any development proposals, even though the school board must declare the property as surplus before any development project can proceed.

"We have not received, as a board, any indication that anyone wants to do anything with the middle school, and we're the ones who have to decide first," board member Wat Hopkins said.

Still, the school board's chairwoman had heard fragments of two development proposals. Tacy Newell-Foutz said the development being considered has the potential to change the face of Blacksburg, but declined to reveal details.

At a Monday meeting of the Blacksburg Townscape Committee, a citizens group that discusses the town's future, residents talked about their dreams of converting the old school into a cultural, artistic and educational center. Virginia Tech YMCA director Gail Billingsley talked about a tentative plan to buy the old school and move YMCA programs and operations there.

But Muffo injected a little sober reality into the discussion when he said the majority of supervisors want to sell the property for $8.5 million to $10 million, possibly to a commercial developer. Four of seven supervisors favor selling the school, possibly for commercial development, he said.

Supervisors control the school board's purse strings, and Muffo reminded the crowd that "He who has the gold makes the rules and the county has the gold."

"The school board could say it was going to keep the property," Muffo said, but the county could then say it was going to keep millions of dollars of the school's budget.

Hopkins said Tuesday about Muffo's comments: "If it were coming from someone other than John Muffo, I would interpret that as a threat ... John was just saying, 'This is the way things are.' I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. We already know they have budgeting authority."

Muffo's remarks didn't sit well with Blacksburg resident Kay Moody, who said at the townscape meeting that supervisors should remember they represent the citizens of Blacksburg, too. She argued that losing the school property to development would hurt surrounding neighborhoods.

Muffo countered, "You need to do some lobbying. A lot of people don't think the way you do." Blacksburg resident Chuck Rogol advocated letting the town keep the building and front lawn and allowing residential development on athletic fields behind it.

Councilmen Paul Lancaster and Langrehr, the only Blacksburg council members present at the meeting, said the property is zoned residential with a civic designation, and interested developers would have to submit a plan to the town for approval. Lancaster and Langrehr were leading voices for controlling development during last May's council elections.

Muffo said Tuesday that generally, talks between the county and businesses about proposed development projects hinge on keeping the discussions private. A company making a purchase usually prefers to announce the deal, he said.

"We've actually been threatened in the past that if anything leaks out, the deal is dead," he said.

Newell-Foutz said she thought the school board, supervisors and town council had a good working relationship. But, "This looks like a three-ring circus."

"It sounds to me as if the three government entities should be talking," the school board chairwoman said.

The school board was expected to meet Tuesday night in closed session to get general legal advice about selling or leasing property.

The school board has been trying to decide what to do with the old building since November 2001, a year before a new middle school opened in Blacksburg. Many residents favored using the building as a community resource center. Blacksburg agreed to look for tenants but could not find enough groups to cover operational costs. Several supervisors began putting pressure on the school board in March 2003 to sell the building.