Welcome to Roanoke Valley Field Notes, a collection of news and miscellaneous notes from the past week in the valley and a look ahead at what’s happening next week. Here’s last week’s edition if you missed it.
Last week, I covered the dismissal of a neighborhood lawsuit against the city of Roanoke and a developer, a Valley Metro public hearing on proposed fare increases and the Roanoke City Council continuing a public hearing on its citywide rezoning amendments to July 6.
If you have questions about the Google data center campus coming to Daleville, jot them down and head over to a Google and Botetourt County open house on June 17 to get those questions answered. I have more details about that open house below.
As always, email me at samantha@cardinalnews.org to share your thoughts, ideas, questions and concerns!
Let’s get into what happened in the valley in the last week and what to look for in the coming week:
Open house set on data center project
As noted, on June 17, Google and Botetourt County will host a community open house in Daleville for residents to speak with representatives from Google, local utility providers and county staff.
In March, Google said it would soon break ground on a data center campus on 312 acres in the Greenfield Industrial Center, which will include three data centers, three substations and other infrastructure.
[Disclosure: Google is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
The project has sparked questions and concerns from the community surrounding water, the environment, energy costs and other issues. Many of those questions are addressed in an FAQ that Cardinal News has compiled through questions from readers.
The event will be open-house style, according to a Botetourt County Facebook post, and information provided will center on water usage, power infrastructure, sound and environmental considerations, community benefits and investment, local revenue impacts, project planning and zoning.
“Feedback from neighbors will help guide planning and efforts to minimize impacts on the surrounding community,” an event graphic says.
The community is invited to drop in anytime between 5 and 7 p.m. that Wednesday in the lower gymnasium of Lord Botetourt High School, at 1435 Roanoke Road in Daleville.
For more information about the project, Botetourt County recently posted a new webpage with information about data centers in general and the Daleville project.
Roanoke’s new Eureka Recreation Center to open
The city of Roanoke is welcoming the public to the newly completed Eureka Recreation Center for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on June 12, including tours of the new facility. The center will officially reopen on June 15.
The center’s redevelopment is the largest single-project parks and recreation investment in the city’s history, completed through $14.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act pandemic funding.
The center, which was over 50 years old, became a capital improvement priority in 2019 when staff identified many facility issues, a press release stated.
The changes followed a community engagement process throughout 2022 and 2023, before the center was closed for construction in 2024. In a survey and a public meeting, community members said they wanted more walking trails, art, amenities and activities that would cater to all age groups.
Here’s what you can expect from the new facility: a 5,750-square-foot addition, an indoor gymnasium, upgraded restrooms, a community room and lounge space, doubled parking capacity, a new events lawn, an ADA-accessible pathway, a pavilion and 140 newly planted trees.
The new facility also includes dedicated space for the Positive Learning and Adventure for Youth, or PLAY, program, which provides homework assistance and activities to children during after-school care.
The renovated facility, according to the Roanoke Parks and Recreation website, will be the first in the city to use geothermal energy and solar panels.
The center will be able to offer regular public operating hours while after-school programming is active, the release stated. The community can find more information about hours and facility rentals here.
Meetings coming up next week:
The Roanoke City Council will meet at 2 and 7 p.m. on Monday. Agenda materials are not yet available but can be found here once they’re posted later this week.
The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors will meet on Monday evening for a special meeting to adopt its budget and hold a closed meeting following its adoption. The full agenda for the 6 p.m. meeting can be found here.
In case you missed it this week:
The Roanoke City Public School Board approved its budget, which included $14 million in budget cuts. The plan could require additional amendments once the state finalizes its budget.
The Roanoke Parks Foundation says it will no longer work with the city, citing difficulties in completing a Mill Mountain biking trails project. This comes weeks after the Roanoke City Council voted to zero out its parks maintenance funding after next summer.
