Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 27, 1990 TAG: 9007270340
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After a daylong hearing, Roanoke County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Trabue postponed closing arguments until a later date, to give him time to read depositions and other papers filed in the lawsuit.
The courtroom battle pitted two friendly rivals - Roanoke County Attorney Paul Mahoney and Edward Natt, a former county attorney who often represents landowners in zoning disputes.
Natt had the harder job Thursday, because a court typically won't overturn a decision made by a local governing body unless it is proven to be "arbitrary" and "capricious."
In trying to prove that, Natt argued that the supervisors' decision was based more on politics than on facts.
But Mahoney countered that, because Fralin & Waldron's request to go ahead with construction was "fairly debatable," the supervisors' decision shouldn't be overturned.
Construction of the building was stopped last November after nearby residents complained that Fralin & Waldron wasn't complying with conditions agreed to when the 4-acre lot was rezoned in 1985.
Fralin & Waldron had agreed to develop the lot in keeping with a site plan that specified a two-story building. But the building under construction is four stories when viewed from 419 and five stories when viewed from Green Valley.
As Natt pointed out, the county approved a final site plan last year that showed a four- and five-story building. The rezoning conditions "just got lost" during the four years before construction began, the county's planning director, Terry Harrington, said earlier this year.
The Planning Commission recommended approval of Fralin & Waldron's request to continue construction of the taller building.
But in January, the supervisors voted unanimously against the developer - even after Fralin & Waldron offered to limit the building's height to four stories.
In court Thursday, Richard Whitney Jr. of Fralin & Waldron said a two-story building wouldn't be economical. To repay the construction debt, plus maintenance, the developer would have to charge tenants more than $21 per square foot in annual rent, he said.
That's much more expensive than other office buildings in Southwest Roanoke County, where top rents are $15 to $16 per square foot.
William D. Poe of the real estate firm of Waldvogel, Poe and Cronk said nobody would pay that much for office space.
by CNB