Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990 TAG: 9006260352
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"It's the most encouraging document I've seen since I've been here," said Clyde Kessler, a 19-year resident.
The residents uniformly praised the plan's emphasis on preserving the county's rural character, and several said they would like to see it go further.
For example, the document, which will guide the county's growth for the next five years, "encourages" the county to prepare a plan to preserve open spaces. Several residents said the county should just go ahead and do it.
Dee Ann Mims of Blacksburg said the county also should come up with a specific strategy to back its goal of preventing air and water pollution.
While lauding what was on paper, though, some were skeptical the supervisors and Planning Commission would pay attention to the plan after it was adopted.
"Which points are going to be for real?" asked Janet Niewald of Lusters Gate Road (Virginia 723). Niewald said conflicts between the plan and "growth and progress" would be inevitable.
"I'd like to see the county be environmentally cautious and preserve itself, rather than lie down for the developers who come along," she said.
The supervisors, some of whom noted the strong support for the draft, will vote on it in August.
On another matter at the public hearing, the supervisors and Planning Commission questioned Phil Schirmer of Anderson and Associates about plans to expand a Plum Creek mobile home park to 115 units.
Board members asked how the steep site would be graded, whether sewer service could be provided and how the county's schools would cope with the influx of children it would bring. Schirmer estimated 168 children from the park would attend schools, with 60 percent of those in elementary school.
"We realize we have some serious engineering work ahead of us," he said in response to questions about grading.
One potential neighbor, John H. Whitaker, said he hoped the project would be rejected. He called a nearby park "the awfullest eyesore you've ever seen."
"I think we should be doing a little beautification for Plum Creek instead of destroying it," he said.
by CNB