Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 31, 1990 TAG: 9003310666
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Peter Mathews
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
No Hatfields, though.
Nonetheless, the dispute between the club and some neighbors near its firing range in McCoy illustrates the kinds of problems that face rural residents as Montgomery County grows. Because Blacksburg and Christiansburg are pretty much full, development now is occurring in areas where people had moved to get away from it.
In some of those areas, families like the McCoys have lived for generations.
South of Christiansburg in rural Sugar Grove, landowner Tom Whitt asked the county last fall to discontinue maintenance on a portion of Virginia 675. Whitt said then that vandals and joy riders were creating disturbances where the road dead-ends.
That prompted 29 residents to sign a petition opposing Whitt and asking the county to reopen another portion of 675 that has been closed for years. That would give them a much quicker route to Roanoke than winding Virginia 674, and it would help emergency vehicles get to them faster.
Melissa Alderman, who wants the road reopened, said a more basic feeling is involved: the belief among people in rural areas that they should be free to go where they want to.
Another road proposal to get people to Roanoke faster has some county residents upset. When the state Department of Transportation unveiled maps of the seven alternatives, some homeowners noted with dismay that one or more of the routes would take their houses - or make them not worth living in.
David Tuck stood by an aerial map and ticked off a list of relatives who would be displaced by one of the routes.
"I know it needs to be done," he said, but "this here is just a little too much."
A more publicized growth dispute was Nellies Cave Road, where clear lines were drawn between those who wanted a paved road and those who wanted to preserve the past. Aligned with the latter, but to some extent caught in the middle, were the families who actually live on the road.
Other examples abound. Many public hearings of the county Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission feature somebody who wants to build something and somebody else who wants to stop them.
Most projects that reach this stage are approved.
The Shawnee Hunt Club case was referred to the Parks and Recreation Commission. The Virginia 675 case was sent to the Board of Road Viewers. And Department of Transportation officials will recommend a new highway route within a few weeks.
All of those outcomes will please some people and displease others, a fact of life for public servants trying to strike the right balance.
For Dee Ann Mims and some others who were involved in the Nellies Cave Road fight, the highway plans are another step toward the "uglification" of a pretty area.
"What do you do if you don't like any of them?" she asked after she had viewed the maps.
For now, that doesn't seem to be one of the options.
by CNB