Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 30, 1992 TAG: 9203300169
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But so do retail photography stores and restaurants that serve alcohol.
County Planning Director Terry Harrington admits it's hard to see the logic in that.
And that's one reason why the county needs a new zoning ordinance, he says.
The ordinance is more than 20 years old, and a lot has changed in Roanoke County in that time.
"The way people use land in the 1990s is a lot different than the way they used it in the '60s and '70s," Harrington said last week.
For one thing, the county is more urbanized. But the zoning ordinance doesn't recognize the difference between, say, the Catawba Mercantile general store and a GettyMart on Virginia 419.
And it hasn't kept up with changes in society. For example, it allows day-care centers only in multifamily residential zoning districts - not in commercial districts where they are needed most.
And it makes no mention of recycling centers, bed-and-breakfast inns and automated teller machines.
The ordinance also lacks consistency. For example, it allows "non-commercial community recreation" in most zoning districts. But it doesn't define what that is. A volleyball net in a neighborhood park? A miniature golf course?
And it includes odd zoning districts such as M-3, manufacturing, which apparently was created specifically for quarries and asphalt-processing plants.
For these reasons and more, the county's planning staff has tried for years to come up with a new zoning ordinance.
In the late 1980s, before Harrington became planning director, the county flirted with what's called "performance zoning." That would have eliminated traditional zoning districts and allowed a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses in a single neighborhood, as long as they met strict design and operational standards.
But Roanoke County probably isn't ready for performance zoning, Harrington said.
So for the past three years, the planning staff - with help from the people most affected by the zoning ordinance, such as builders, developers and real estate agents - has worked on a new but more traditional-style ordinance.
Among other things, the new ordinance would:
Generally require lot sizes of between 1 and 1.5 acres in rural parts of the county where there aren't public water or sewer lines. That's partly out of practicality and partly to discourage residential growth in rural areas.
Restrict the height of commercial buildings to 45 feet. That probably will be changed, Harrington said. There already are buildings higher than that in Southwest Roanoke County, such as the Tanglewood Holiday Inn and the Unisys Corp. office building.
Require large parking lots to be landscaped.
Establish a commercial zoning district to allow not only offices but other uses that meet the needs of office workers, such as day-care centers, banks and photocopying shops.
The ordinance is being previewed at "open houses" around the county this month. There will be one today at Cave Spring Junior High School and another on Tuesday at the Catawba Community Center. Both are from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the new ordinance on April 7. There will be time to revise the ordinance, based on the public comments, before the Board of Supervisors considers it, probably in June.
As soon as the supervisors approve the text of the zoning ordinance, Harrington and his staff will get to work on maps showing the recommended use for vacant tracts in the county.
Turnout has been light at the open houses. "But I would expect there would be more public interest in the maps," Harrington said.
That's when choices will have to be made about whether, for example, to allow residential development on vacant tracts along newly four-laned U.S. 221, or whether to zone those tracts for commercial development.
by CNB