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Bristol Herald Courier
http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-11-16-0005.html
Friday,
November 16, 2007
By
Debra McCown
ABINGDON, Va. – Two days after the Washington County
Board of Supervisors voted on a $2.37 million land deal, board Chairman Kenneth
Reynolds signed the contract Thursday morning with Jimmy Stewart of
Clifton-Stewart Rentals.
The land, purchased for
$40,000 per acre, is for a joint town-county recreation complex near Exit 22.
Stewart said the land would
have sold for more had it been used for a residential development – but the
complex is sorely needed because as it stands now, youth sports teams practice
in empty lots behind supermarkets because there’s nowhere else.
"It is so sickening to
go to these towns and see these beautiful ballparks … that we could not have
one here," said Stewart, whose 12-year-old daughter plays Little League
softball.
He said though the price is
high, the development cost of the parcel will be less than the cost of
developing others.
The deal also includes an
agreement by Mac and Carol Clifton to swap some of their adjoining land for a
piece of the parcel being sold so the county’s tract of land will be the proper
shape.
"There’s a perfect
level spot that will make a complete ballfield, and they’re needed," Carol
Clifton said. "I think it will benefit all the kids in our area."
Stewart said the company is
already pursuing another land deal near Exit 19 for the development of
condominiums and retirement villas that was planned for the property sold to
the county.
He said the project will
begin next fall – and he expects more growth in the Exit 19 area because of
existing infrastructure.
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