
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040296
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CONCERTS GET PLANNERS' GO-AHEAD

The Roanoke County Planning Commission on Tuesday gave its OK to a "use not provided for" permit for a weekly series of beach-music concerts this spring and summer at the Valleypointe commercial and industrial park.

The concert series, called "Valleypointe After Hours," will be sponsored by the Easter Seal Society of Virginia.

Among bands that have been booked are The Occasions, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, The Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose, The Impressions, The Tams, The Chairmen of the Board and The Embers.

The concerts will be held on Thursday nights from mid-May to mid-September.

Net proceeds will go to the Easter Seal Society. Most of the money will support Camp Easter Seal-West in Craig County, a summer camp for disabled children and adults.

"Valleypointe After Hours" will be modeled after the Easter Seal Society's "Innsbrook After Hours" in Richmond, now in its third year. The concerts at Innsbrook, a commercial and industrial park on Richmond's West End, draw an average of 5,000 people.

By the end of the summer, at least, the Easter Seal Society hopes the concerts at Valleypointe will be drawing 3,000 to 3,500 people.

The biggest concern of the Planning Commission and the planning staff was parking. There are only 200 or so parking spaces at Valleypointe, which is in its first phase of development. And parking is prohibited along roads in Valleypointe.

But Susan Knight of the Easter Seal Society said cars would be allowed to park on vacant lots in the park.

Planning Commission member Ron Massey said there still is a lot of site work to be done at Valleypointe to get ready for the concerts. But, he said, the concerts will be "a plus for the valley."

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the permit on April 24.

Valleypointe is off Interstate 581 and Peters Creek Road near the Roanoke Regional Airport.

Also on Tuesday, the Planning Commission:

Recommended approval of Dominion Bankshares' request to rezone 7.6 acres off Plantation Road from A-1, agricultural, to B-2, commercial, for general office use. Dominion Bankshares wants to purchase the land for expansion.

Recommended approval of Aerospace Research Corp.'s request to rezone 51.6 acres off Virginia 939 from M-2, manufacturing, to R-1, residential, to develop a 23-lot subdivision.

by CNB