Walkers Creek is only race
with three candidates
By Hilary Craig
In the only Board of Supervisors race that attracted more than one challenger, three Walkers Creek candidates tried to show how their experience and vision would bring new business to Rockbridge County and serve the interests of local farmers.
There will be no runoff: The winner needs only a plurality of votes.
Local farmer K.L. "Monty" Fix, 59, claimed that the primary problem in the county was its lack of business.
"We need small businesses to help us out," said Fix. "We need to improve our tax base and take some pressure off our retired people so we can have better school programs and jobs, and work to keep our young people here."
Fix proposed that the county should do everything it can to accommodate prospective businesses.
"We need to take their hand and work with them to get them here," he said.
Candidate A.W. "Buster" Lewis, 69, who owns the Mountain View Farm Greenhouse and the Jefferson Florist & Garden, said that he has disagreed with most of the decisions the supervisors made during the past four-year term.
While Lewis supported bringing new businesses and jobs into the county to relieve taxpayers, he was not willing to change county policies to accommodate new businesses. He did not approve of the supervisors loosening the county's sign ordinance as a special deal for the Peterbilt truck company to bring it to the county.
"I think that's short-term gain for long-term disaster," said Lewis. "We need to preserve the beauty of our county and set the rules. When people come in here, they need to play by our rules."
Candidate Frank "Pat" Patterson, 60, is a sheep farmer who retired from Virginia Power in 2002.
Patterson believed that the supervisors needed to "press harder" to create commercial and industrial sites that are "pad-ready" for a company to come in and start building on. According to Patterson, the county needs both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. He suggested that Rockbridge County is in a perfect location to be marketable for a satellite operation for other companies in Virginia.
In addressing how the newly elected board will tackle rezoning in the county, Fix offered an alternative to both the time release and sliding scale methods. (More on zoning)
He proposed excluding people who have owned land for 20 or more years from such regulations.
"When someone's farmed for 100 to 200 years, it's hard for me to make a law saying they can't sell it," said Fix. "We need to give farmers the right they have to [sell] their land."
Patterson proposed a new method, which he calls the "25-acre rule." He explained that subdivisions would need to be at least 25 acres in size, with an exception for family members. He said that these large subdivisions would limit development and preserve the county's agricultural areas.
Zoning was not the only new idea that Patterson proposed. He also advocated building a new elementary school in Goshen because of the long commute for school-age children to the nearest school in Fairfield. However, his opponents, Fix and Lewis, did not see the idea as economically feasible.
"I think we all know that there is no way in the world we can build a school in Goshen for 50-some children," said Fix.
While Lewis leaned more toward the sliding-scale method over time release in the rezoning issue, he believed that something should be done.
"To do nothing is to go backwards," he said.
Lewis said the current board was not doing a good job of listening to the people.
"Time and time again, groups have been appointed to study issues like the sign ordinance and zoning, and they have done a great job," said Lewis. "And then once they have presented their very reasoned study this board has ignored what they said and gone ahead and done something else. It's not only disrespectful, but not very smart."
However, Fix claimed that he has supported and listened to the district's land owners, which he believes sets him apart from his opponents. He said he worked hard to represent the interest of his constituents.
"I'm just a puppet to them," he said.
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd