Town Developer Looks Forward to Start of Project
Construction Expected to Begin Later This Fall in Grundy

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
   Commonwealth Company's Tim Scoggins is getting excited about plans for the Grundy redevelopment site and confirmed again Tuesday that among the planned tenants on the site is Wal-Mart.
    In fact, Scoggins and Town Industrial Development Director Chuck Crabtree confirmed that four representatives of Wal-Mart were onsite in Grundy last week to visit the site and to look at plans for the re-engineered site plan.
    "Everything is still very much on track," Scoggins said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "Wal-Mart liked everything they saw. I feel extremely confident that based on that visit that all is on go." 
     Projected construction costs have skyrocketed on the project as site development has been completed, Scoggins said, noting that as a result, the company has done some shifting and redrawing of its plans for the site.
     He noted the volatile oil market had impacted construction costs nationwide. Bids received on the project in June, he said, had come back higher than anticipated.
     In fact, while a 2 percent increase had been noted from 2004 to 2005, the increase from 2005 to present, he said had translated to a projected increase in construction costs of some $4 million.
     As a result, he said the Knoxville-based development company had gone back to the drawing board to redesign the lay-out. and design of the buildings planned.
     "We've wiggled the buildings around and redrawn the site plan to get to a better geo-technical area and in the next few weeks, we will re-bid the project," Scoggins said.
     "We looked at the project and found no huge things, but lots of little nickel and dime things we could change in order to bring it in line," Scoggins said.
     He noted one area was in the construction of the parking building, which went from being pre-cast concrete to a concrete and steel structure.
      He added he expects to break ground on the new development later this fall.
      "We're working now to get all the financing in place and re-engineering the site," Scoggins said.
      An additional 18 to 20 tenant spaces are projected on the site along the 27,000 square foot section of Main Street and Scoggins said the core group of merchants for those spaces has been identified. Among those is a full-service restaurant, who he declined to name at present.
      "It's going to be a real good project," Scoggins said. "I'm 99.9 percent certain now we've got everything ironed out and can get started this fall."
      He said the project delays which have occurred for various reasons as the site has been developed have resulted in the company having to go back to the proposed tenants the company originally inked contracts with, but he said those have now been renegotiated and are awaiting final signatures.
      "We've spent the last several months doing that and the proposed tenants have all re-blessed their agreements," Scoggins said. "We want to build a project that we can all be really proud of and I think we're there."

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Residents Ask for Grand Jury Investigation

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
    Fifteen citizens in the Laurel Creek area of Buchanan County have filed a petition in Buchanan Circuit Court seeking to have a special grand jury investigate their complaint seeking the abatement of a noise nuisance resulting from a fan and compressor station at CONSOL's #10 airshaft.
    Kyle Robinson, who lives on Laurel Creek, said the noise from the fan and two compressor stations beside it is "unbearable."
    He said the fan and compressors started up April 26 and are located with 1,200 feet of hie home.
    He complained to the company about the fans and the noise and as a result, Robinson said there was an up-shoot placed and insulation put in, but he said that did not take care of the noise and he added, "it seemed to make it worse."
    In his research to find ways to address the problem, Robinson said he ran across the method to file the petition he  and the others filed.
    As a result, he and 14 others signed petitions asking the court to abate the nuisance.
    "This noise is very, very loud at our homes," the petition reads. "It is constant, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and can be heard both inside and outside of our homes."
     It goes on to note the citizens have been told it will continue for the next 20 to 30 years.
      "We the citizens are unable to sleep at night, enjoy any outdoor or indoor activities," the petition read. "This loud noise is unbearable to everyone in this area. It has destroyed our quality of life, to which every U.S. citizen in entitled."
     Among those signing the petition was Commonwealth Attorney Sheila Tolliver, who resides in the area. Several of the statements signed by residents in support of the petition were witnessed by Buchanan County Sheriff's Department Investigator Larry Crouse.
     Under Section 48-1 of the code of Virginia, "when complaint is made to the circuit court of any county, or the corporation court of any city of this Commonwealth, by five or more citizens of any county, city or town, setting forth the existence of a public or common nuisance, the court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall summon a special grand jury, in the mode provided by law, to the next term of such court, to specially investigate such complaint."
     The next Grand Jury term begins October 9.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  To subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

County Injunction Request Moved to Federal Court

by Cathy St. Clair
News Editor
   An injunction request filed by Commonwealth Attorney Sheila Tolliver on behalf of Buchanan County to halt any CONSOL discharge in the Levisa River has been moved to federal court.
   Tolliver filed for an injunction against CONSOL last month hoping to put a stop to the coal company's plans to discharge mine water into the Levisa River.
   A hearing had been set for Monday, however that hearing was cancelled after the company filed a notice removing the case to federal court. The notice of removal noted that  jurisdiction in federal court was proper since CONSOL is a Delaware corporation with its main offices in Pittsburgh. Pa. and the county is located in Virginia.
   Tolliver said Monday she was evaluating her next move and in fact said she had contacted the county attorney to ask that he consider taking over the process.
   She said she was taking that action because she had recently signed a petition as a private citizens asking the circuit court to abate a noise nuisance relating to a fan and compressor station operated by CONSOL near her home.
    In order to avoid any appearance of impropriety, she said, she was asking the county take over the action.
    CONSOL responded to the complaint originally filed in pleadings last week and stated that since water discharge activities were not currently occurring and since if they did occur they would be authorized by both state and federal law approving them,  the statutes relied upon by the county do not authorize an injunction.

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  To subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.