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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991                   TAG: 9103150582
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KIM SUNDERLAND NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

CHRISTIANSBURG ZONING SUIT DELAYED

The first hearing to decide whether a $4.7 million lawsuit against the town of Christiansburg should be dismissed has been postponed until March 28. It had been scheduled for Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

An attorney for Sleepy Hollow Inc. and Sleepy Hollow Holding Corp., which filed suit against the town in December because of zoning changes, said lawyers on both sides agreed to the rescheduling.

Dennis Brumberg of Lutins and Shapiro in Roanoke, who is handling Sleepy Hollow's case with partner Richard Wall, said lawyers on both sides need more time to review and file legal papers.

In 1988, the town annexed county property and made zoning changes, which included about 100 acres that O.L. Gibson Jr., president of Sleepy Hollow and the holding company, was developing in accordance with county zoning.

In 1990, after Gibson tried and failed to be excluded from the town's changes, he filed suit claiming he lost use of the land and suffered severe monetary damages. The suit cited constitutional infringments of his rights.

In early 1991, the town moved to have the case dismissed on the grounds that Sleepy Hollow must exhaust state law before attempting federal remedies.

by CNB