Wednesday, February 16, 2005
County, school board inch closer to middle school agreement
Branwick Associates, a Virginia Beach-based consulting firm, is still interested in building a mall on the property.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors unanimously accepted a resolution that the school board passed in January outlining the terms by which the school board would be willing to declare the property surplus and turn it over to the supervisors. The resolution says that the school board wants to cooperate with Blacksburg and the county on the issue and lists concerns that would need to be addressed before the school board considers turning over the property. The school board wants athletic facilities, such as the football field behind the school, to be replaced and ready for play; to have plans for how to accommodate students and teachers during renovation of Price's Fork Elementary School; and a guarantee that proceeds from the sale would have to go toward capital improvement projects for the school system.
The resolution came out of a joint meeting in November between the two boards. It was agreed then that the school board should be the first group developers talk to about the property until the school was declared surplus.
If the school system's requests are met, it may turn the sale of the land over to the county. Development plans that hinge on zoning changes by Blacksburg can be taken care of with language in the contract, said school board Chairwoman Tacy Newell-Foutz, who was happy the board accepted the resolution.
"It indicates to me that the two boards will work in tandem for any future use or disposition of this property," she said.
The old middle school, which closed in 2002, has been a political issue since 2001 when the school division asked county residents to come up with ideas for the school. But the school has remained property of the school system despite overtures from developers this fall who were considering buying the property to build a mall or a luxury housing development.
Robert Smithwick, president of the Virginia Beach company that proposed building a 620,000-square-foot mall on the old school property last fall, said Tuesday he was still interested in doing the project. Gail Billingsley, director of the YMCA at Virginia Tech, is also interested in the property.
While the school board chairwoman was encouraged by the board's acceptance of the resolution, the chairman of the board of supervisors was less enthusiastic.
"As of right now, nothing has changed," Gary Creed said. "We'll just have to see if we can give them what they want when we get the right people to go into it."
When the right people do come forward to buy the land, neither the county or the school board will have the final say, Creed said.
"We've worked to try to get it this far, but when it really gets down to the reality of it ... it's all back on the town of Blacksburg."
Tonia Moxley contributed to this report.
