Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 22, 1991 TAG: 9102220462
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Edwin Keith directed his remarks toward James Moore, the Board of Supervisors' liaison to the Planning Commission, at Wednesday night's commission meeting.
"I just want to see us move forward," Keith said. He said the Planning Commission had been working on the new standards for four or five years since the establishment of the U.S. 460/Virginia 114 Corridor Planning Advisory Council.
The commission sent standards to the supervisors for their consideration more than a year ago, but the board turned up its collective nose and sent them back to the commission.
Supervisor Ann Hess served on a committee - representing the county, Blacksburg and Christiansburg - that helped draw up the standards. She said the problem was that the Board of Supervisors could reach no consensus about what the development problems were or how they should be addressed.
It was frustrating to have the board reject the standards after all the work that went into them, Hess said.
The Planning Commission will be sending the standards back to the supervisors soon with some minor revisions, Keith said.
The proposed standards would work as an overlay district for all zoning districts in the county. They would include regulations on such things as the distance a building must set back from a property line, landscaping and the construction of entrance roads.
If the new standards had been in place, the recent development between Christiansburg and Blacksburg on U.S. 460 could have been made much more pleasing, Keith said.
Ray Alcorn, a commission member from Blacksburg, said the standards are just one part of a larger issue - which is the need for a comprehensive rewriting of the county's zoning ordinance. Taking an overall look at the county's ordinance has the support of many engineers, architects, planners and developers, he said.
Alcorn said adopting the standards also as a side benefit might speed the signing of an agreement between the county and Blacksburg on providing utilities in the county near the town limits.
In other business, the commission heard a report on the activities of the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission. Jack Lewis, chairman of that commission, told the planners that zoning is important to create an atmosphere attractive to industry.
A visitor riding along U.S. 460 could come to two different conclusions, Lewis said. He or she might get the impression that the county has undergone significant growth, but also might conclude that the growth was haphazard.
Lewis told the planners that Montgomery County is becoming a major trade center and is losing less business to surrounding areas like Roanoke.
During the past five years, employment in retail, service and government has grown by 72 percent statewide but 88 percent in the county, he said.
The commission also voted to send requests for special-use permits to the Board of Supervisors for public hearings.
Thomas Reed of Christiansburg wants to operate a dance hall and pool room in a building at 3397 Radford Road, now used for a carpet warehouse. Roger Gallimore of Radford wants to operate an amusement arcade at 1411 Rock Road at Radford Road in a building now used for an arcade and garage.
by CNB