Reworked plans for ag center unveiled

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Plan B for Wythe County’s long-discussed Appalachian Agricultural Exposition Center got an “A+” grade Tuesday from the Wythe County Board of Supervisors.
Eric Crowgey, representing the Planning Commission and a group of area agricultural leaders pushing the project, presented the supervisors with the group’s latest ideas for developing a complex in Wythe County to host trade shows, agricultural competitions and sporting events.
The big switch announced Tuesday is that the expo center is now slated to be built in Wytheville instead of on a 48-acre site off exit 80 just north of Fort Chiswell.
Instead of developing the facility in an empty field, organizers also now plan to renovate an existing building on Pepper’s Ferry Road for part of the complex.
The new plans call for the ag center to be built in and around the old Alco Controls/Emerson Electric building, which has been vacant for years.
The Emerson lot is only 21.8 acres, but Crowgey said the group realized its initial plans for the larger exit 80 site – slated to cost at least $7.5 million to develop – were overly ambitious.
“We’re not going to get $7.5 million dollars – period,” he said Tuesday. “Let’s be realistic.”
With a graded lot and parking spaces already in place in Wytheville, Crowgey said the new cost estimate for the complex is just more than $3 million. He also said the location is ideal as it’s close to the interstates and within a stone’s throw of the town’s meeting center and recreation facility as well as numerous hotels.
The group would pay $1.3 million for the existing land and building and expects to have to pay around $500,000 to renovate the space and replace the roof. In the planners’ latest blueprints, as was originally included in the Fort Chiswell plans, a new 3,000-seat covered arena would also be built on the Wytheville lot at an estimated cost of $1.2 million.
“I think this is something we could possibly do in phases,” Crowgey said.
Unlike the lukewarm reaction from the supervisors when Crowgey last came before the county governing body in May 2008, the government leaders liked what they heard Tuesday.
“My comment is: Great thinking outside the box, buddy,” said Supervisor Danny McDaniel.
“I think what you’re doing is great,” added Supervisor Gene Horney.
In addition to private donations, Crowgey said the group, which recently received its nonprofit status, is seeking to obtain grants from the Virginia Tobacco Commission and possibly the Wythe-Bland Community Foundation.
He also said that space in the complex could be leased to agricultural organizations such as the county’s cooperative Extension office as another way to bring in revenue.
While Crowgey came before the board Tuesday looking only for a letter of support for the expo center, he said that financial help from the county would be welcome at any time.
“Well as Jerry Maguire said in that movie: Show me the money,” Crowgey jokingly said after the supervisors’ positive comments about the new plans.
The supervisors did unanimously approve giving the center its written support Tuesday by a 6-0 vote, with Supervisor Eddie Hagee absent from the room at the time of the tally.
While the effort to get the center built has been reinvigorated by the shift in location, Crowgey still cautioned that much work remains to be done before the facility opens its doors.
Although Crowgey said the town of Wytheville appears to be supportive as well, Town Council will have to formally approve a zoning variance at the site.
The lot also has been cited by the Department of Environmental Quality for chemicals that have leached into the ground from its old tenants. Crowgey, however, was upfront Tuesday about the DEQ reports and said the site has access to clean water from the town and otherwise will be safe for new occupants.
“All this takes time,” Crowgey said. “It’s baby steps. We have to crawl before we can walk.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the supervisors:
• Debated following the lead of Wytheville Town Council and enacting a law requiring operators of mopeds and motorized scooters to wear helmets. No action was taken Tuesday, but the county governing body planned to reexamine the issue if the town passed its law, which it in fact had already done on Monday night. Sheriff Doug King said he was in favor of the county passing a similar law to the town’s new regulation. “Anything that can be done to prevent fatalities is a plus,” King said.
• Heard an update from Superintendent Lee Brannon about the latest happenings in Wythe County Public Schools. Brannon particularly highlighted attendance data from the last 10 years, which show that enrollment has remained relatively stable in the last decade – contrary to what Brannon said is a common misconception that the number of students in the county has dipped precipitously in recent years. The superintendent did acknowledge, however, that enrollment so far this year is below the school system’s projections. The school system built its budget on 4,240 students, but last month had only 4,212 enrolled.
• Approved a recommendation from the Budget Committee to spend $10,500 to sandblast and repaint the floors of the county’s animal shelter. While the work is done during a 10-14 day period, dogs will be kept at the Galax shelter at a cost of $3 per dog, per day.
• Voted to compose a letter supporting the Farm Bureau’s effort to prevent elk from being introduced into the county. “If you’ve ever had experience with deer, just multiply that by 100 and you could imagine what elk can do,” said Chairman Bucky Sharitz.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .