A new grass roots group wants to bring together Roanoke County residents, elected representatives and administration personnel on key issues facing the county, hoping perhaps to forge coalitions on various projects before they come up for a vote. Common Sense Progress for Roanoke County held its first organizational meeting at the Rt. 419 library last week, attracting about 20 people in spite of bad weather.
Former Roanoke County Democrat party chair Richard Evans presided over the first meeting and will most likely serve as the group’s first president. “[We will] work with each other on issues only that relate to Roanoke County,” said Evans. “[It’s] not personality driven, [just] Roanoke County citizens talking about Roanoke County.”
Cave Spring supervisor Charlotte Moore was on hand, along with her Catawba counterpart, County Chairman Joe Butch Church. School Board members Jerry Canada (Hollins) and Mike Stovall (Vinton) were also in attendance. “Public servants are non-voting, ex-officio members of the group,” said Evans, “which is designed to overcome the “NIMBY” – not in my backyard – crowd that usually shows up at supervisors meetings to block projects.”
The monthly Common Sense sessions will focus on a particular topic; the issue last week was the Community Development Authority bonds that Smith-Packett wants to use to finance improvements at South Peak (formerly Slate Hill), which has been stalled for years across from Tanglewood Mall.
“CDA’s entail no financial risk for the county” said Director of Economic Development Doug Chittum, although the developer and the county would have to negotiate tax breaks. “They’re complicated instruments,” admitted Chittum about this financial tool that has been used about 20 times in Virginia since being created in 1993. The Board of Supervisors voted to accept the consideration of CDA’s several years ago.
“They’ve come to us,” said Chittum of the Smith-Packett request to sell those bonds for infrastructure improvements. Hilton Garden Hotel is reportedly ready to land at South Peak once the high rise development gets underway. “Developers must have signed leases” said Chittum, before the county would sign off on a Community Development Authority bond.
According to Chittum the biggest objection to CDA’s come from those “philosophically opposed” to using tax money for private developments, but he termed it as making “growth pay for growth.”
Evans said he didn’t see a countywide group that would address common issues and interests. Part of it is geography. “[We’re] so spread out.” “Civic leagues and individual supervisors with their own agendas also made consensus difficult” said Evans. Education on issues might be the goal at some meetings, while at others attempts might be made to form coalitions on certain issues. He called Common Sense Progress for Roanoke County a “work in progress.”
Meeting attendee Patrick Patterson, who narrowly lost to Vinton District supervisor Mike Altizer in November, said he started his campaign for the next election as soon as the recount was over. “This is a great forum, a great way to learn about what’s going on.” Patterson vowed never to miss a Common Sense meeting, which are scheduled for the third Thursday of each month.
“We’re going to do this every month,” promised Evans to the first Common Sense attendees. Contact Richard Evans at 774-1905 for more information.
By Gene Marrano [email protected]