Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993 TAG: 9309280266
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Frank and Joyce Howard have applied for a rezoning and special-use permit to operate the park on what is now undeveloped rural land off U.S. 460 at the intersection of Howard Drive and Cove Hollow Road.
Howard, whose son Allen spoke for him, has been planning a trailer park on the land for three years but has been waiting for development of a public water system, expected to be completed in December 1994.
The first stage would be timed to open with the water system; the second section of 38 lots would open a year later, Allen Howard said.
All three Howards live in homes just behind the proposed park and plan to stay there. "We intend to have a park that will add value to our land and not detract from it," Howard said. "We're hoping to build a mobile-home park that is in a class by itself."
While two men favored the park, eight other people were not so sure it would be a boon to the area in eastern Montgomery County, which already has eight mobile-home parks.
Christiansburg lawyer Rod Crowgey, representing adjacent landowners James and Ardith Matz, presented a petition he said was signed by 352 people opposed to the project. Another petition, signed by 312 trailer park residents and favoring the Howards' proposal, also was entered into the record.
Crowgey said his clients were concerned for the value of their property and their ability to get to it by way of a narrow road reached via a railroad crossing at Cove Hollow Road.
A trailer park would be a high-density use, Crowgey said. "This would be an extreme change from agricultural use," he said.
Other residents pointed to the strain the new residents would put on the public schools. A report by Lorenz V. Schoff of the Montgomery County schools estimated that the park would bring an additional 50 elementary school children. That would require two to three trailers for Elliston-Lafayette and Shawsville elementary schools, costing $50,000 to $75,000. Together, the schools are using five trailers.
Approximately 32 middle and high school students would mean two mobile classroom units costing $50,000 would be needed for Shawsville High School, Schoff estimated.
The Montgomery Board of Supervisors took no action. The county Planning Commission will make a recommendation before the matter comes back to the board for approval or rejection.
by CNB