Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990 TAG: 9003202791
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: By DAVID POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The coexistence between the old and the new - seldom as peaceful as the artist had envisioned - was tested Monday by a proposed mobile home park near Scruggs.
Native farmers and lakefront homeowners squared off at a zoning hearing before the Franklin County Board of Supervisors.
Tobacco farmer Jeffrey D. Dudley sought the board's approval to place 24 mobile homes on a portion of the 107 acres that his family has farmed for more than a century. Dudley says he and his 70-year-old mother would be unable to keep up with land taxes that have doubled since 1985 unless they could generate extra income through seasonal rental fees.
"It's the right time to become a developer, if that's what it takes to keep the family farm," Dudley said.
Residents of two nearby subdivisions, Deer Creek Estates and Key Lakewood, spoke against Dudley's request for a special use permit.
In contending that used mobile homes would be an eyesore, residents noted that Dudley had refused to screen the proposed park with 6-foot pines as recommended by the county's Planning Commission.
Dudley replied that 6-foot trees would cost $40 each, while he could plant seedlings around the entire project for about the same cost.
The Dudleys have rented 10 mobile homes on a lakefront portion of their farm for 20 years. Dudley applied to install 24 additional units on 5 acres. In a final plea to the supervisors, Dudley lashed out at what he called the "pompousness and selfishness" of some of the people who have moved to the area since Smith Mountain Lake was completed in 1966.
Dudley recalled the sacrifices his family had made for the lake - allowing Appalachian Power Co. to flood 40 of their most productive acres and donating the right of way for Virginia 601.
Gills Creek Supervisor Charles Ellis, saying mobile homes do not "comply with existing subdivisions," moved to deny the request for a special use permit.
The motion passed 4-2 with one abstention.
Later, Dudley said he would appeal the board's decision to the Circuit Court. "We're never going to quit because they will not run over us like that," he said. "They want us out of there. They're trying to tax us out of there so it can be - quote - properly developed. They don't want anyone down there [at the lake] except rich people."
by CNB