Two big pieces of Roanoke land changed hands this week, one in the open and one behind a closed door. Friday evening the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority came out of closed session and authorized the sale of land at Wood Haven Technology Park, then released nothing else — no buyer, no price, no stated use. The Roanoke Times ran it as a "secretive land sale" and reported the 111-acre site at the Interstate 81 and 581 interchange is widely expected to become a data center. Ten citizens filled the entire thirty-minute public comment period in opposition, with the crowd spilling out of the boardroom. Afterward Vice Mayor Terry McGuire and Councilman Phazhon Nash issued a joint statement saying a majority of council had given the city manager consensus to proceed, and that they are opposed — citing a Washington Post–Schar School poll showing 35 percent of Virginia voters are comfortable with new data centers in their community, down from 69 percent in 2023. The same statement promised to fight any data center at Ole Monterey, the 236-acre former golf course in northeast Roanoke that council voted Tuesday to buy for $8 million. The city lists a possible school campus, housing, parks and recreation, and industrial development among its options. The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation has the property on its endangered sites list: it's the second-oldest course in the valley, on land once owned by Colonel William Fleming, who is buried there. In the Rundown: an outside study found Roanoke's planning department hobbled by a prolonged leadership void, a vacancy rate that hit 36 percent, and what developers called a "culture of no," though the city says its permit backlog is already dropping. Preston Park Elementary opened in northeast Roanoke, replacing a 1952 building so crowded that teachers were holding class in hallways. Around the region, Franklin County's supervisor fight ended with Mike Meredith dropping his claim and Bonnie Law appointed to the Boone District seat, Bedford County's school board weighed four options that all involve closing a second elementary school, and Christiansburg tightened its rules on any future data center. A farm in northwest Roanoke is opening a neighborhood grocery store, in a city where most national chains sit on the edges or outside the line entirely. And a new report says the region needs about 9,000 more health care workers, more than 3,000 of them registered nurses. The Week Ahead: Mill Mountain Theatre opens "Oklahoma!," Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood play the Harvester, Radford's Tartan 5K runs the greenway at twilight and Salem screens "How to Train Your Dragon" in Kiwanis Park, early in-person voting opens Friday, the Henry Street Heritage Festival returns to Elmwood Park for its 35th year, more than twenty high school bands compete at Salem Football Stadium, Mill Mountain Zoo marks International Red Panda Day, Opera Roanoke opens its 51st season with "La Traviata," and fall festival season starts at three farms at once. Closing the show: two brothers direct the marching bands at Northside and Hidden Valley, and once a year both bands call the same game the Galyen Bowl. Locally curated, AI-narrated. We pull from the Roanoke Times, WSLS 10, Cardinal News, and WDBJ7 — and we encourage you to support them.
