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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 1, 1991                   TAG: 9103010494
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

DATE SET ON MOTION TO DROP SUIT

A date has been set in Montgomery County Circuit Court to hear a motion by Christiansburg that it be dropped from a $4.7 million lawsuit filed by a developer over zoning restrictions on his subdivision.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Devore will hear the motion March 14 in the case involving Sleepy Hollow and Sleepy Hollow Holding Co., which are owned by O.L. Gibson Jr. The companies sued the town in December over zoning changes made after the town had annexed property the companies were developing in 1988.

The suit should be dropped because proper channels for the complaint weren't followed, said Christiansburg's defense attorney W. Fain Rutherford of Roanoke's Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove.

The suit alleges that the rezoning decisions cost the two companies thousands of dollars by restricting use of their land. The companies claim they were denied due process of law when their property was "taken for public use without just compensation."

Rutherford claims in his response that the companies should seek compensation first from the state, not the town, on these constitutional matters.

by CNB