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BLACKSBURG - The hubbub over the Toms Creek Sewer has made this one of the hottest election seasons in years in Blacksburg.

Three at-large town council seats are up for grabs, and so is council's support for a $10.8 million plan to build a conventional sewer through the Toms Creek Basin, the most rural section of town. On the ballot Tuesday are three anti-sewer candidates, Paul Lancaster, Don Langrehr and incumbent Ron Rordam; and only one pro-sewer candidate, J.B. Jones, also an incumbent.

However, two other pro-sewer advocates, Frances Parsons and Toby Rock, have entered the fray in recent weeks as write-in candidates.

Meanwhile, the remaining council members, not up for election, are divided 2-2 on the sewer.

The sewer fracas sparked the formation of a new citizens group called Ci-tizens First, that says it has lined up about 1,400 voters to back candidates who oppose the sewer.

A group of business people, at least some of whom live outside town, emerged last month to back the pro-sewer candidates.

Last week, developer Jeanne Stosser, who said she supports a conventional sewer because of problems with backed-up sewage at some of her properties - and who has projects that would be greatly assisted by a new sewer - filed a complaint with Blacksburg's zoning officials about Langrehr. Langrehr has alarmed some developers with his support for "smart growth" as well as his opposition to the sewer.

Stosser said Langrehr's residence in the basement of a duplex he owns violated Blacksburg's zoning ordinance. Renters live on the first and second floors, and Langrehr sublets the basement from his first-floor tenant. Therefore, he shouldn't be considered a legal resident and should be removed from the ballot, Stosser said.

Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Joey Showalter and Barbara Cockrell, the Virginia State Board of Elections' assistant secretary for elections and training, disagreed, saying compliance with zoning was entirely separate from eligibility to vote or run for office.

Stosser's look at Langrehr's residency included filing a Freedom of Information Act request for building permits and an April 21 personal visit to Langrehr that became one of the more whispered-about incidents of the campaign.

Langrehr's version was that he had returned from work at Radford University, where he is an education professor, and looked out his window to see Stosser cutting through the side yard to reach the basement door. When he met her there, a woman accompanying Stosser blurted out, "We were looking for a cat."

Stosser said she was in fact helping a friend look for a cat, and when the search passed Langrehr's house, she decided to stop and see if he seemed to be living there. The two had a brief conversation about the sewer and development that neither reported to be particularly edifying.

Sewer supporter Jones is a town planning commission member who joined council last year to complete the term of a councilman who moved. Parsons is a 32-year council veteran who announced her write-in candidacy less than two weeks ago. Rock said the sewer controversy prompted him to run.

Sewer opponents Langrehr, planning commission member Lancaster and Rordam prefer a less-expensive plan to run a pipeline down the U.S. 460 Bypass, instead of along Toms Creek, and possibly couple it with smaller, alternative sewer systems to serve clustered development in the basin. Town staff have concluded such alternative systems would be cheaper to install but would cost more to maintain than a conventional sewer.

Voters get to cast three votes Tuesday. The three open council seats are at-large, meaning the three candidates with the most votes will join council on July 1.