By Taylor Boyd
Four speakers shared updates on community projects and goals during the Community Leaders Forum, sponsored by the Patrick County Chamber of Commerce and the Reynolds Homestead on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The event was held at the Star Theatre, with the Landmark Center providing refreshments. More than 20 people attended.
Triton Construction
Michael Daetwyler, the company’s construction manager, said the road project runs from Meadows of Dan to Lover’s Leap and will tie into Branch Civil’s construction work.
“We’ll hopefully start there around September in the project, and construction will be complete around December 2030,” he said.
While working on this section, Daetwyler said no detours are expected on U.S. 58. However, Triton is planning for two detours on other roads.
“One will be on State Shed Road while we’re working just down past the VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) garage. Traffic will either have to go back out to 58 there at Vesta or back around on Cloudbreak (Road) to meet back in there at the Busted Rock (Road) and Cloudbreak intersection,” he said.
The other approximately four-week detour will be where Busted Rock Road comes out onto U.S. 58, near the Primland sign.
“While we’re tying in that section of the road to 58, we’ll have to have a small detour, and that traffic will have to go back to the left. They’ll actually tie back into the new road at that point off of State Shed Road to go back toward Stuart, or you can go back toward Meadows of Dan,” he said.
Daetwyler said the general plan is to build an eastbound lane through the project, put traffic onto that lane, then build an eastbound bridge before constructing the westbound lane.
“We’ll build the eastbound bridge, tear down the old one, and put the new one back” as the westbound bridge. “It will be turned a little bit different than the one that’s currently there, but in the same general location,” he said.
Construction is currently underway on a bridge in the Vesta area. Daetwyler estimates the repairs will be finished in April.
“There will be two lane closures that we’re planning for about three days each. That will happen in about a month to do the railing repair to keep all the public safe while we’re doing those repairs,” he said.
Economic Development and Tourism
Patrick County Economic Development and Tourism Director James Houchins said the Economic Development Authority’s strategic plan was recently updated to focus on needs such as infrastructure improvements and childcare.
“We have some programs and some grants that we have received to kind of help us identify those areas, especially on Highway 58, that we already know is going to be a major game-changer for us when it is fully operational and up,” he said.
To help identify retail gaps and leakage, a retail coach study was recently completed. “We focused on everything from Stuart headed back toward Martinsville as an area there that we can reach out and hopefully we can maybe bring some more retail here in the county,” he said.
Houchins said the EDA also received a Tobacco Commission grant to help get price quotes for a tank at the Rich Creek Corporate Park, a 55-acre, Tier 5 industrial park. A water tank “will help us to better position it to bring more industry,” he said.
Funding was also received to help pay for a gas tap study that could help bring natural gas to the park.
“We’ve already been in talks with Ten Oaks. Ten Oaks said that they would be happy to have gas there. It would help them improve their dry kiln, the drying industry that they have there, but that’s going to take a while,” Houchins said. “Anytime you’re dealing with the government, we’re realizing it’s going to take some time to get these projects in, get the feasibility study back, and then find the resources to actually tap into them.”
Another study identifying industrial areas along U.S. 58 is also underway, which could help improve the county’s infrastructure, and Houchins said he has been in contact with the Public Service Authority to gather numbers for the county administration to review water and sewer needs along U.S. 58.
Meadows of Dan was another area identified in the retail study with strong potential for retail growth and expansion.
“Several years ago, they did have a study that was already out to look at water and sewer in the Meadows of Dan area. For whatever reason, the study was not able to go forward. However, we’re going to be potentially picking that back up in the next couple of years to look at that,” he said.
Virginia Department of Transportation
David Kiser, VDOT Assistant Resident Engineer for Land Use, said the Patrick County Board of Supervisors will have to hold a second public hearing regarding the proposed abandonment of the section of Dogwood Road in front of Hardin Reynolds Memorial School.
The board previously voted 3-1-1 in favor of abandoning the section at its Sept. 8 meeting.
“There is a requirement that it be advertised in the paper so many days before the hearing,” he said, adding that the advertisement “made it into” the Martinsville Bulletin’s “electronic advertisement but didn’t actually make it into print in time.”
Kiser said VDOT is talking with the county about who will host the public hearing and its location in the next few months.
The agency is also working on alternatives to the closure, such as “making that section one-way from the east heading west, or making a raised speed” bump. “We’re trying to present all of the possible alternatives other than closing it,” he said, adding he believes closing the section is still the direction the Patrick County School Board wants to pursue.
Reynolds Homestead Community Engagement, Partnership, and Program Manager Sarah Wray asked whether the potential alternatives would be provided to the public before the rescheduled hearing.
“I don’t know how quickly we will be having that next public hearing. I would only think that when we do that advertising in that at-least-two-week window, anything that we plan to have at that public hearing, we would make available at that time through our office,” Kiser said.
“That makes sense. Otherwise, it just feels a little performative,” Wray said.
Regarding the intersection of U.S. 58, South Mayo Drive, and Spring Road, Kiser said there is potential for a future SMART Scale project application to improve safety there.
“The Smart Scale process is every other year, and locations have to meet requirements like safety. In the past,” it didn’t meet “any of the thresholds to be eligible, but looking ahead at the next one, it might be. There’s a potential opportunity to seek some improvements there through the Smart Scale upcoming,” he said.
Kiser said work on the Ashby Drive–Virginia 8 intersection is set to begin in March, “but they won’t be having any substantial work on it until after schools let out. Sometime around April-May is when you can really start to see the work there pick up, and that project is scheduled to be finished in December of next year.”
Work to repair the bridge on Virginia 8 will begin around the same time.
“The bridge replacement project may take a while, particularly when they’re done in place, so they have to maintain traffic while also building the bridge part at a time. It’s expected to start around May-June next year, and construction will last about two years,” Kiser said.
Town of Stuart
Town Manager Bryce Simmons said the town’s 20-year boundary adjustment will be next year.
“The town annexed in 2006, and we have been operating under an agreement between Patrick County and the Patrick County Service Authority in providing services over this 20-year period. That 20-year boundary adjustment agreement between the town and the county is set to expire in September 2026,” he said.
Simmons said he hopes to begin conversations with the county about what the future of the agreement may look like.
“I don’t want anyone to start to say that I want to annex — because I don’t — but I do want to look at what are better ways that the town and the county can work together to achieve both economic and community development in our area,” he said.
To be proactive in supporting the town’s key institutions, Simmons said the town is in the final steps of rezoning for the Stuart Community Hospital.
“We are creating a Medical Hospital Center District to properly zone the 13-acre hospital property, giving it a clear and modern designation that supports the future needs of that facility,” he said.
A joint public hearing between the town council and the Planning Commission on the new zoning will be held on Nov. 19.
Simmons said the town has executed the funding contracts with the Community Development Block Grant and the Appalachian Regional Commission for the Stuart Downtown Revitalization Project.
“What that means is we are finally able to begin working with our architectural consultants, and we can start to collaborate with the property owners in downtown to get some of this work done,” he said.
The Planning Commission, acting as the official Facade Improvement Committee, has adopted the facade bylaws and governing rules for the facade improvement portion of the project, “which means that we are moving forward with the comprehensive plan to restore and revitalize our historic downtown, focusing on facade improvements first because that is the major component as far as deliverables for our downtown revitalization project,” he said.
A filter backwash improvement project at the water treatment plant is also underway. Simmons said it is funded in part through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Virginia Department of Health, and he anticipates the $1.7 million project will be finished by the end of next year.
Stuart was also appropriated $1.2 million as part of a Congressional Directed Spending program in fiscal 2025 for the installation of new smart meters throughout town, “which will basically eliminate the need for a meter reader. These meters will be read instantaneously, which will give insight to know when we have a water leak as it happens,” he said.
West Piedmont Planning District Commission Executive Director and STEP, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael Armbrister was scheduled to speak but was unable to attend due to illness.
