ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER|
When the long-awaited interchange linking Interstate 581 to Valley View Mall is complete, the mall's developer wants to be ready for the increased traffic.
Faison Realty Equities Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday filed a petition to rezone 40 acres near the shopping complex for commercial development. The property, known as the Watts farm, is adjacent to the Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened last year. The real estate company has an option to buy the land from the Watts family, pending rezoning approval. Terms of the deal were not available.
The proposed extension of Valley View Boulevard, which would connect with the new partial interchange south of Hershberger Road, would run through the Watts property and provide access to any businesses located there.
James Douthat, Roanoke attorney for Faison, said the parcel between the extension of Valley View Boulevard and Wal-Mart has been earmarked for a "major retailer." The rezoning also would create two smaller parcels, suitable for further growth.
A second piece of land, now owned by the Association for Retarded Citizens, is included in the rezoning request. A one-acre parcel of this nine-acre plot, adjacent to Round Hill Elementary School, also would be zoned for a retail business. The remainder would house ARC's sheltered workshop.
The joint zoning request, which imposes uniform development conditions on the entire property, is designed to ensure that the whole project will follow the same guidelines, Douthat told the Williamson Road Action Forum Thursday night.
"If you design the whole thing at once, you come up with a good plan," he said.
The city planning commission will take up the proposal when it meets March 5.
"The thing that scares everybody is businesses in the neighborhood," said Mary Ann Callahan, whose home on Greenland Avenue faces the Watts farm. But she said the presentation Douthat and city officials made to the North Roanoke community group probably helped allay fears that the property would be developed recklessly.
But Ginny West, a teacher at Huff Lane Intermediate School, said she worries about the impact of the Valley View Boulevard extension on the school, which it would border.
"I'm just concerned about the safety of the children," she said.
Faison said it will build landscaped greenways from Huff Lane park to Round Hill Elementary School to shield neighborhoods from the new development. The greenways would be at least 75 feet wide; tentative plans show a berm, planted with both evergreen and deciduous trees, and a chain-link fence and walkways.
Pedestrian access to the greenways and the development, it is proposed, would be controlled by the city or an organization such as the Western Virginia Land Trust. There would be no automobile access between the development and the surrounding neighborhoods.
The retail development plans hinge on the completion of the interchange, a project that, according to Bill Clark, the city's director of public works, won't be finished until late fall 1998 at the earliest. According to the conditions offered by Faison, no retailers could occupy any of the land until the interchange and Valley View Boulevard extension have been built.
Faison isn't answering any questions yet about the identity of the "major" retailer. But widely held speculation is that a possible tenant is Target, a discount chain that is part of Dayton Hudson Corp. of Minneapolis.
Lisa Woodward, a spokeswoman for Dayton Hudson, declined to discuss specific store openings but didn't dismiss the company's interest in the region. "We are certainly looking to expand in the Virginia area," she said. A Roanoke store is not in the company's 1997 plans, she said, but 1998 is a "possibility."
Target currently operates nine stores in Virginia - in Tidewater, Fredericksburg and Potomac Mills - and two more will open next month in Richmond. Target also operates a distribution center in Augusta County.
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