Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 14, 1990 TAG: 9003142519
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The board rejected a request Monday night from Hugo Phelps to rezone land across from Laurel Creek Nursery for a convenience store. The vote was 4-2, with Supervisors Henry Jablonski and Joe Stewart supporting the request. Supervisor Ira Long was absent.
Opponents said approval would constitute "spot zoning" and lead to strip development along heavily traveled Virginia 114. Supervisor Todd Solberg said he could not support such projects until the road is widened to four lanes.
Jablonski said there already are some businesses in the area and that development might actually speed efforts to widen the road - a subject he can recall being discussed 15 years ago.
Planning Commission Chairman Orrin Arvold said Virginia 114 "appears to be a logical place to encourage more commercial developments." But board Chairwoman Ann Hess said the Phelps site was not close enough to a likely center of that growth - the Prices Fork Road intersection.
A second request appears headed for a similar fate. James Martin sought a rezoning for a beauty salon across Virginia 114 from the Phelps site. That vote was 3-3, with Supervisors George Gray, Jablonski and Stewart voting for approval.
The tie meant another vote would be needed at the next meeting. But Gray said afterward that he had voted for the project by mistake.
The Planning Commission had recommended that both projects be approved, and neither attracted much opposition at a Feb. 26 public hearing.
In other business, the board:
Approved final plans for a 24-lot subdivision, Pinewood Estates, off Virginia 737 near the Prices Fork community.
Transferred $50,000 from one account to another to help pay for a new crash truck for the Christiansburg Rescue Squad.
The board's next meeting is a March 19 public hearing on the county's 1990-91 budget. It will be at 7 p.m. at Blacksburg High School.
by CNB