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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991                   TAG: 9103150583
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

APARTMENTS BY PERMIT BACKED

In a flurry of last-minute motions, the commission agreed to pass several recommendations to Town Council on a proposed rezoning of the Central Residential District:

Hire a consultant, when the town has enough money, to design a "vision for the area."

Keep the district whole, rather than divide it into three parts, as currently proposed.

Require special-use permits in the designated "special policy area" near the Virginia Tech campus, including hotels, parking garages, open markets, and commercial and residential developments.

Limit developments to 60 percent lot coverage.

Reduce the maximum density of development from 19 units per acre, as currently allowed, to 10 units per acre.

The commission also recommended that nine acres of undeveloped land owned by T.P. Wong, located behind the Harding Elementary School, be excluded from the district. The current proposal includes the land.

The commission is scheduled to meet April 2, when it will likely formalize its recommendations. Council meets April 9.

A draft ordinance that would sharply limit development potential in the district has met with public criticism as being shortsighted, unfair and possibly illegal. In some cases, the draft plan would reduce the building limit from 19 units per acre to zero.

"It seems to me where we want to have the most density is closest to the business district [and] Tech," commission Chairman William Claus said.

Most members agreed that allowing development by permit only - meaning the commission and council would review all site plans and hold public hearings - would bring controlled and desirable growth to the downtown.

But member Ray Chisholm, who cast the sole vote against several of the motions, saw it differently.

"I don't see much difference between a special-use permit and a ban on multifamily," Chisholm said. His motion to reduce density from 19 units per acre to 15 failed to get a second.

Chisholm said that dropping to 10 units per acre would send property values down. But commissioners Georgia Anne Snyder-Falkinham and Frances Parsons disagreed, saying luxury town houses and other "quality development" would increase property value.