Truck Stop Plans Violate Local Business Model, Opponents Say

MEADOWVIEW, Va. – Tonight will be the first of two informational meetings on a proposed Love’s Travel Center planned for Interstate 81’s Exit 24.

The project has been controversial among proponents of a locally based economy and of residents concerned about the impact the facility would have on nearby Meadowview Elementary School.

“We think we’ve reached the point now where the plans are fairly firm, said Rick Shuffield, director of real estate and development for Love’s. “We want to hold some meetings with the Meadowview citizens so they can come out and get a chance to get a look at what we’re proposing and ask any questions and give us any comments.”

The meetings will be at 6:30 p.m. today and again March 31, both at the fire hall on Meadowview Square.

Started in 2005, the project would encompass a 10-acre truck stop and travel center at the interchange, with about 70 parking spaces for trucks and 70 for cars, a gift shop and convenience store, a Subway and a McDonald’s.

Shuffield said it would create between 50 and 70 jobs with competitive wages, health, dental and vision insurance, and retirement plans. He said it also would provide safe parking for trucks on a clogged Interstate and have a major economic impact on Washington County.

Some residents have voiced support for the project, but it has a large, vocal opposition, unofficially lead by Steven Hopp, director of the Meadowview Farmers’ Guild. The guild runs a restaurant and general store on Meadowview Square, a half-mile from the proposed travel center site.

Hopp said the proposed truck stop would put the community’s existing employers – including two conveniences stores and at least two diners – out of business. More than that, he said, the project violates the local, sustainable business model he has worked to develop, and the county’s efforts to draw tourism to the region.

“This building we’re sitting in was triggered by my opposition to the truck stop,” Hopp said Wednesday inside the structure that houses the store and the Harvest Table Restaurant, which prides itself on serving food produced locally.

He blames the nation’s recent economic collapse on 25 years of policies that assume global trade would help average Americans. Instead, he said, he invests in a business model that focuses on how people can make money locally from the products they produce locally on a small scale.

“It’s antithetical not just to my business. I think it’s antithetical … to the heart and soul of small-town America,” Hopp said of the proposed truck stop. “The global economy that favors the big corporations has just mined money out of small-town economies, and that’s what I think the Love’s truck stop is going to do.”

Other concerns of truck stop opposition are the site’s proximity to the school, potential environmental damage from fumes and runoff, traffic growth and crime.

Shuffield said he’s working to mitigate traffic issues and extend sewer to the school. With respect to crime, he said, it would be “no more than any other local business.”

The Cardinal Travel Center at Exit 29, which some claim has become a hotbed of crime, has had some incidents but not a major increase, Washington County Sheriff’s Capt. Jack Davidson said.

“When a mass of people comes together, yes, you have crime,” Davidson said, comparing the level of crime at the travel center to that of a shopping mall. “We have a number of reported offenses, but … a terrible increase in that instance, no.”

Several steps remain before the truck stop project can go forward.

Washington County Supervisor Tom Taylor, who represents the district where the truck stop would be built, said the developer would need to re-zone part of the property and obtain a special exception permit, both of which require approval from the county board. He said public hearings would be held as part of that process.

Steve Buston, Abingdon residency administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said the process for approving road improvement plans would begin after the project gets a green light from the county. That process, which must go through both state and federal highway officials, could take close to a year.

“Certainly the county has to make up their mind on whether or not they want to see us there, but the Interstate’s there and it’s not going away, and it could very well be a huge economic impact on the county if they so choose to use it,” Shuffield said. “If we can get our approvals, it’s our intent to go forward as soon as possible.”

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