The owner of Slate Hill is re-branding the controversial development and said he's ready to start building, if he can get some assistance from Roanoke County.

Jim Smith has chosen "South Peak" as the new name for his project on the prominent knob at the intersection of Virginia 419 and U.S. 220 -- and he said a parking garage is essential to the development.

Smith said he's itching to go.

"I'd start work tomorrow," he said this week. "There are banks that are interested, a lot of money sitting on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity to invest."

A Hilton Garden Inn has already signed a contract to build on the site, and Smith said he's set to start constructing condos and an office complex.

The holdup, he said, is in working out details for a community development authority to finance and oversee public infrastructure improvements to the site.

Such community development authorities -- called CDAs in government shorthand -- are relatively new in Virginia. They've been used to bolster huge commercial developments in Northern Virginia, Richmond and Tidewater, but never in Western Virginia.

Similar to existing economic development authorities, a CDA is a quasi-governmental agency that can issue tax-exempt bonds to finance such public improvements as roads, water systems and parking garages.

The Roanoke County supervisors authorized the use of CDAs last year and set up guidelines for creating them. No CDA has been set up so far, however.

The advantage for a locality is that it gets public infrastructure without having to dip into general fund money to pay for it. It also has no obligation to repay the bonds if the developer fails, unless the locality specifically agrees to do so.

The bonds are backed by the developers' property -- not the infrastructure improvements, which belong to the locality.

Bonds are generally repaid either by levying a special tax on businesses in the authority's district or by apportioning a percentage of new taxes generated by the businesses.

Smith, while complimentary of the county staff, said he is nonetheless frustrated with the slow pace of the informal talks about creating a CDA, which have now been going on for about six months.

Two critical elements he wants the CDA to finance are construction of a parking garage to help provide for more dense development on the site, and improvements to the water service to the top of the hill.

"When that [CDA] is voted on, that sets in motion everything," Smith said. "Then the real work begins. Selling bonds, moving dirt. We have things being designed and done as we speak.

"Right now, people need to work," he said.

With construction and loan costs at their lowest levels in decades, "this is the opportunity to act," on a project whose initial phase will cost $120 million to $130 million. Smith said.

County Attorney Paul Mahoney said he understands Smith's eagerness, but he defends the county's deliberate pace.

The supervisors are treading new ground across a complex landscape involving the public trust as well as economic development, Mahoney said.

The board members "are concerned about the impact on the economy as a whole and want to do something to benefit the economic vitality not just of Roanoke County, but the whole valley."

While the county is not directly responsible for repaying the bonds, that is done through "an allocation of local tax revenues, albeit from new development that we didn't have before," Mahoney said.

"Most citizens, if they look at it, will still see it as tax revenues, even if it's not out of their pockets."

Supervisor Charlotte Moore represents the Cave Spring District, which includes the South Peak site. Although she has recused herself from the executive-session discussions with Smith because her landscaping firm has a contract with one of his companies, she's enthusiastic about a CDA for the development.

"We have to be looking at ways to bring economic growth to the valley. We need jobs," she said.

In particular, she said, "Slate Hill has been such a controversial issue" since Smith cleared the site five years ago. "This is a way that the citizens, the county and the developer can work together and get growth and put something beautiful back up on that hill."

A CDA, she said, "puts the responsibility on the developer, not on the county. They put their assets up."

Smith said his companies -- which include Smith/Packett Med-Com, one of the largest senior housing and health care firms in the country -- continue to grow despite the national recession, .

"Between now and the end of December, I'll close one transaction of $102 million," Smith said. "Banks are much slower."

He said his office complex at Pheasant Ridge is now 100 percent occupied and "I'm just about out of condos to sell."

"I'll have no problem getting a loan. One thing about being a family business ... we've made money and kept it. We're happy to invest in the projects we do."

The community development authority will require that he demonstrate he has financing in place before issuing any bonds, Smith said, "but none of the banks will talk to us until we have the CDA in place."

Mahoney declined to guess about when that might happen.

"Are we close? I don't know, we're still talking."