Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1991 TAG: 9103270344
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Fralin & Waldron went to court after the Board of Supervisors rejected its request last year, and Judge Kenneth Trabue ordered the supervisors to reconsider.
In voting to deny the request again, Supervisor Dick Robers said that - even though Fralin & Waldron "is certainly a good corporate citizen in the Roanoke Valley" - the taller building failed to meet guidelines in the county's comprehensive plan aimed at protecting residential neighborhoods from commercial encroachment.
Lawyer Edward Natt was tight-lipped afterward about Fralin & Waldron's plans. "We'll discuss our options tomorrow," he said.
Dozens of residents of the Green Valley neighborhood who attended the meeting were elated. "I think it's great," said Gary Crowder, treasurer of the Green Valley Civic Association. "We'll take the next step as it comes."
Construction of the office building was stopped in the fall of 1989 after residents complained that the developer wasn't complying with conditions agreed to when the lot was rezoned four years earlier.
Fralin & Waldron had agreed to develop the lot in keeping with a site plan that specified a two- or three-story building. But the building under construction is four stories when viewed from 419 and five stories when viewed from Green Valley. It also is situated differently on the lot than the building shown in that site plan.
The county mistakenly approved another site plan in 1989 that showed the taller building.
Since then, the developer has agreed to take off the top story. That inspired Dr. Willis P. Lanier Jr. to suggest during Tuesday's public hearing that the rusted steel from the top story could be used to construct a sculpture titled "A Monument to Hindsight."
But that wasn't enough to sway opinions in Green Valley - even though the developer argued that a smaller building wouldn't be economically feasible.
Natt told the supervisors that Fralin & Waldron would have to set rents at $23 to $24 per square foot just to break even on the smaller building. That's much higher than rents at nearby office buildings on 419, which range from $13 to $16 per square foot.
He tried to show that the taller building would be similar to other office buildings on 419. For example, its floor-area ratio - the ratio of the square footage of the building to the square footage of the site - would be about the same as the nearby La Premier and Boone & Co. office buildings.
And Natt said that once the top story was removed and the building was screened by 16-foot pine trees planted on an embankment, Green Valley residents would hardly notice it.
Roger Atkins is one resident who didn't buy that. "From our homes, it is an awesome sight that sticks out like a sore thumb," he told the supervisors. "You will be setting a bad and dangerous precedent if you go back on your word simply because Fralin & Waldron has decided it wants to make more money on this project."
The Planning Commission voted 4-1 three weeks ago to recommend approval of Fralin & Waldron's request.
Also on Tuesday, the supervisors gave preliminary approval to an ordinance establishing an admissions tax. The tax would apply, among other things, to admissions to movie theaters and sporting events.
Roanoke and Salem have 5 percent admissions taxes. The supervisors are considering setting the county tax at 10 percent, the maximum allowed by state law. That would raise the price of a $5.50 ticket at the Tanglewood Mall Cinemas to $6.05, if the theater passed the tax along to its customers.
A 10 percent tax would raise an estimated $100,000 a year.
If given final approval on April 9, the tax would take effect May 1.
Only two other counties in the state - Dinwiddie and Prince William - have admissions taxes.
by CNB