Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270246
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Obediah Overstreet never met Robert Frost, but he understands the New England poet's words in the poem "Mending Wall."
A fence would mend some problems for Overstreet - and help make him feel better about his new neighbor.
Overstreet lives next to Virginia Transformer Corp.'s $3.5 million plant that is nearing completion on Glade View Drive in Northeast Roanoke.
Standing near the edge of his lawn, Overstreet looks down a 20- to 25-foot bank and worries that his small grandchildren might tumble down the incline into the path of an oncoming truck or car.
"I'm concerned that a child might come running out this way - not knowing the bank is here - and fall, roll down the hill and get run over," he said.
Overstreet said a fence would also block his view of loading docks and what he describes as other unattractive features of the plant.
He has asked the company to erect a wooden fence along the 600-foot line between his property and the plant.
Overstreet has discussed the request with Virginia Transformer officials, but the company said it could not justify putting up a fence at its expense.
As part of the site plan review for the plant, the city Planning Commission required Virginia Transformer to plant trees as a screen and buffer between the plant and Overstreet's property. The company says it will plant the trees.
Virginia Transformer president Prabhat Jain said Virginia Transformer wants to be a good neighbor. He encouraged Overstreet to feel free to make suggestions on "how we can practically present ourselves in a more acceptable fashion."
Doug Chittum, a city economic development specialist, said Wednesday he is trying to work out a compromise.
"I think a solution can be reached. We are trying to mediate it, and I am hoping that in a day or two the whole thing can be resolved," Chittum said.
The city sold the site to Virginia Transformer, which now is located in leased space in Statesman Industrial Park. The company, which manufactures transformers and reactors, will move into the new plant this fall.
Overstreet asked for a fence when the Planning Commission reviewed the site plan last summer, but the planners did not require it.
Overstreet said a 600-foot fence would cost about $5,000.
"Planting trees without a fence would make it worse. The trees would block the view of the bank and children would not know it was there," he said.
Overstreet knew that the land, which was formerly owned by the city, was zoned for industrial use when he bought his property in 1986. He talked with city officials then and was told there were no industrial prospects for the site.
After Overstreet bought his house and about 3.5 acres, the city contacted him about swapping land to provide a new road (Glade View Drive, which intersects King Street) to the industrial land so it could be split into two parcels of about 10 acres each.
Overstreet said he agreed "to make a sacrifice" and exchange a strip of land with the city. The city sold the first site three years ago to Tultex Corp.
by CNB