Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990 TAG: 9007210278
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES PAGE: SMT2 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The road recently was cut into 80 acres of woods on Virginia 122 that last year were rezoned for a shopping center, 80-room hotel, restaurant and light-assembly manufacturing.
The land was sold after it was rezoned, however, and the new owner said he is moving ahead with a new development plan.
Gone are the shopping center and other specific projects. Plans now call for individual parcels - including four road-front tracts - to be sold for commercial and light industrial use. "We have property for sale now," said Robert W. Waddell, a Virginia Beach physician.
But county officials contend that Waddell cannot sell lots unless he adheres to the site plan shown to the Board of Supervisors in October when the land was rezoned. "We will do whatever we can legally to stop it," said Gills Creek Supervisor Charles Ellis.
At issue is Franklin County's ability to control development in the Smith Mountain Lake resort area.
County officials say speculators could make a mockery of land-use regulations if they are allowed to disregard conditions attached to land during the zoning process.
Increasingly, county officials demand specific site plans before awarding commercial zoning designations. The site plans form a legally binding contract that follows the land even if it's sold, according to County Attorney B. James Jefferson.
Ellis, an advocate for specific site plans, is concerned that some landowners seeking zoning changes are more interested in enhancing their property's value than they are in developing it.
"As soon as you get a piece of property rezoned, it goes on the market to be resold," Ellis said at a July 16 public hearing.
That appears to have happened last fall after the Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning request of James K. McKelvey.
McKelvey proposed building a multifaceted commercial project on 82 acres near Virginia 122 and Virginia 616, the largest commercial hub on the Franklin County side of Smith Mountain Lake.
A site plan called for a shopping center with 95,000 square feet of retail space to take up most of the road frontage on the L-shaped lot. The off-road portion would be used for a restaurant, an 80-room motel and 270,000 square feet of office space and light-assembly industries.
Based on the site plan, the Board of Supervisors agreed to give the tract an M-1 designation, which allowed dozens of possible businesses to locate in those areas not specified for the hotel, restaurant and shopping center.
Although McKelvey applied for the zoning change, he was a contract purchaser who planned to buy the land if the process was successful. On Jan. 16, McKelvey paid $452,000 for the property from another party and immediately sold it to Waddell for a $100,000 profit, Franklin County real estate records show.
Last fall, the county sent McKelvey a letter noting that "these conditions will remain with the land" even it it was sold.
In a telephone interview, Waddell said he did not believe his plans had changed enough to warrant a zoning review. "There are some modifications of the site plan, but it is going to be somewhat in accord with that," he said. "We do not expect to do anything there that was not permitted in the first place."
Waddell said he plans to subdivide the land in the proposed development, to be called Chimney Hill, and sell lots for retail establishments, restaurants and light industries such as building-supply centers.
County officials first learned about Waddell's plans from a reporter who asked about a road recently cut into the land.
Zoning Administrator Carolyn Handy said her office would review Waddell's plans when he submits a plat for a subdivision. If the plan does not substantially comply with the McKelvey site plan, the county probably will not approve the subdivision, Handy said.
"Any subsequent changes have to be approved by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors," she said.
by CNB