Photo courtesy of Botetourt Co.
Dean Lynch, CAE, Executive Director of Virginia Association of Counties, visited Botetourt County for last week’s Board of Supervisors meeting presenting the board and County Administrator Gary Larrowe with Botetourt’s 2024 VACO Achievement Award. The county recently won the innovative county program award for “Setting the Record Straight: BOCO Facts 4 U.”
The BOCO Facts 4 U page was created to correct misinformation spread through the grapevine and via social media in the county. This is the ninth VACO Achievement Award that the county has received. Learn more about BOCO Facts 4 U at www.bocofacts4u.info.
Upcoming public hearing for well easement
The board was asked last Tuesday to consider granting a 100-square-feet easement from Botetourt County to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a long-term drought monitoring well located within the Botetourt Sports Complex. The well would specifically monitor the groundwater table.
According to County Deputy Administrator David Moorman, the well would be located on the west side of the sports complex, between that and the frisbee golf parking area. It would be located along a service road area, not having any impact on county operations. There is currently a stable reference well at that location monitoring fluctuations.
Following a public hearing, the board approved the easement, 4-0. (Valley Supervisor Mac Scothorn was absent from last Tuesday’s meeting.)
Board approves construction of new trail at Buchanan Elementary
The board approved an agreement (4-0) between the county and Botetourt County Public Schools (BCPS) for the construction, maintenance, and use of a pedestrian trail at Buchanan Elementary School. Deputy Administrator David Moorman presented the consideration to the board last Tuesday.
According to the county, BCPS and Botetourt County will permit the Town of Buchanan through its Recreation Committee (including through volunteers) to construct and maintain the trail on school and county property conditional upon the town securing grant funding sufficient to pay for the work.
The town’s Recreation Committee recently applied for and was approved for a Recreation Economy for Rural Communities planning grant. Buchanan has engaged the public in a recreation facilities planning process including a group of volunteers known as the Buchanan Trail Committee.
Buchanan Supervisor Amy White acknowledged the work of Buchanan Town Council member Rose Jeter for her work in putting together this consideration.
“You can imagine the victory that we will feel that we have three municipalities– our government agencies– with their respective three attorneys that agreed on something,” White said. “We all feel that this is really, really beneficial to our community. This came out of the Recreation Economy grant that the town has been working now for 18 months. We feel like this is the start of some better things to come. This will benefit all the residents in the community and we’re thrilled to have been a part of this.”
The agreement goes on to explain that the plan is to construct and maintain a pedestrian recreational trail for public use on properties owned by the county and BCPS located on Schoolhouse Road in general conformance with the drawing hereby incorporated as part of the agreement. The town intends to apply for grants to help fund construction, educational materials to enhance users’ experience, and possible trail maintenance.
Public access to and use of the trail will be permitted only when children are not required to be on the school premises before the start of the school day, after the school day ends, and any time school is not in session– including holidays when school closure occurs. BCPS offered to install and maintain signage displaying trail use days and hours and asserts its authority and responsibility to monitor and manage public access to and use of its property.
Botetourt County and BCPS will provide no financial or in-kind support to the construction or maintenance of the trail and will have authority to regulate trail usage. The county will issue permits and perform inspections during construction in conformance with the Virginia Statewide Building Code.
~ Fincastle Herald staff report
