n the 20 years David Rundgren has been executive
director of the New River Valley Planning
District Commission (NRVPDC), he’s seen cooperation continue to increase among Floyd, Giles,
Montgomery and Pulaski Counties and the City of Radford. "Cooperation has gone from
cooperating to cooperating a lot," says Rundgren. "The first cooperative project
was the New River Valley Airport in Dublin in 1958. Now I can think of at least 30 things
the localities are working on together."
One of the best indicators of the power of cooperation is the New River Valley Commerce
Park. The $6-million, 434-acre project is owned and operated by Virginia’s First Regional Industrial
Facility Authority, a group composed of 15 municipalities including the cities of Roanoke and Salem, and Roanoke,
Craig,
Bland and Wythe Counties, in addition to the New River Valley localities. Eleven
localities are investors in the park and will receive a proportional share of tax
revenues.
In 1997, the General Assembly passed Senator Bo Trumbo’s
Virginia Regional Industrial Facilities Act to encourage local governments to jointly
invest in facilities that one municipality couldn’t afford. The NRV Commerce Park,
located in Pulaski County, is the first of
these ventures.
"A county like Giles without a lot of good land for major industrial sites is
investing in the park to create jobs for its residents," Rundgren says.
Rundgren expects the park will be ready for its first tenants in five years. The goal
for the park is to employ 3000 – 4000 people, generating annual revenues of at least
$7 million.
Road-building and site grading are completed on the property; now the engineering firms
are examining what it will cost to supply adequate water and sewer utilities. Even this is
a cooperative endeavor. When it came to designing the Commerce Park, the Authority sought
to encourage partnership among engineering firms. Anderson
& Associates, who had initially done a feasibility study on the site for Pulaski
County, took the lead in pulling together four other local firms for the job. "This
approach is working extremely well; each firm has its special strength. Having five
companies cooperating has given us a better process and a better product," says
Rundgren.
Rundgren has been involved in community planning since receiving his master’s from
Virginia Tech in 1972. He first served in the Central Shenandoah PDC, working his way up to director
before coming to the New River Valley PDC in 1984. Rundgren’s mother grew up in Giles
County, and Rundgren lives on the family farm in the Eggleston area.
