County to study best use of two buildings

The Alleghany County Board of Commissioners agreed unanimously to pay $8,680 for an architectural study of possible uses for the Alleghany County Courthouse and the soon-to-be-vacant building that houses Wilkes Community College's Alleghany Campus.

The study is a space and cost analysis to help determine the feasibility of renovating either structure for use by the county.

The current community college location, which is owned by the county after a trade with Blue Ridge Electric involving the former Lowe's Hardware building, the current town office and the campus (the former Cash and Carry Grocery Store), will be vacated once the college moves into the Blue Ridge Business Development Center.

The BRBDC location, formerly Bassett Walker, is expected to be completely renovated for WCC by late this spring. In his manager's summary given to board members, Adams indicated the proposed move by the college campus will likely take place in May.

JobLink, which shares the building, will also be relocating to the BRBDC.

As for the cost of the study, $4,260 will be for the Cash and Carry building, while the remainder ($4,420) will pay for the courthouse work. Hemphill and Associates have agreed to do the job, Adams said. County Manager Don Adams said the initiation of the study does not indicate that the county will be making a move in the near future on any of the projects.

"It doesn't mean that we will build it next year," said Adams. "But next May or June, we are going to have an empty building over there." He noted that interest has been expressed by some of the commissioners in making the building an administrative building for the county, which could help local residents by consolidating services under one roof. Among the offices that may be included are be the county manager, tax office, finance office, planning office, Alleghany County Cooperative Extension and maintenance, said Adams.

Most of those offices are in the current county office building on South Main Street in Sparta, with the exception of the tax office, Hearing on Martin Marietta incentives set

A joint public hearing by the Town of Sparta and the Alleghany County Board of Commissioners is set for Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m.

The purpose of the meeting, which will be held at the Alleghany County Courthouse, is to discuss the terms of a proposed incentive agreement with Martin Marietta Composites, the company which is planning to move into the former Bristol Compressors location later this year. Company representatives will be on hand.

The public is invited to attend.

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