Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993 TAG: 9303020156
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
NEIGHBORS WANT DEVELOPER TO SAVE TREES
Four small signs dot the landscape along Prices Fork Road in front of the Oak Manor housing development:"Save our Trees."
"Don't Hesitate."
"An out of town developer"
"Wants them to vacate."
The signs are the latest effort by some Oak Manor residents to stop proposed commercial development near them on Prices Fork Road.
Developer J.D. Nicewonder is asking the town for commercial zoning on a 10.5-acre site that consists of two parcels of land on opposite sides of the road.
He wants to build three commercial office buildings and 38 town houses.
The rezoning request tops the agenda for tonight's Planning Commission meeting set for 7:30 at the Municipal Building.
The latest clash over the development project was Sunday when one of Nicewonder's friends began cutting trees at the site. Richard Kaufman, Blacksburg's town attorney, went to the site and by sundown a circuit court judge had issued a 15-day restraining order against cutting any more trees on the property.
Headed by Nancy Burke, president of the Oak Manor Home Owners Association, and Byrgen Finkelman, neighbors of the site are against the development, saying it's unneeded and will harm the environment.
About a dozen trees had been felled when the cutting was stopped, Kaufman said Sunday.
Tom Roberts, project engineer with Anderson & Associates, said a tree expert told Nicewonder that many trees on the property are diseased and will be removed even if the zoning doesn't pass.
Only 117 trees at the site are of preservation quality, he said. Of those, the developer plans to save 91.
"We've done all we can to save as many trees as possible," he said.
Roberts said Sunday that the restraining order was a violation of Nicewonder's rights because it's not against the law to cut trees on private property.
Finkelman said she realizes the property is privately owned, but "the land may belong to an individual, but the trees are truly a community resource."
The Oak Manor home owner cites the 1988 Prices Fork Road Corridor Study to support her theory.
"The best use of this property would be a low-intensity commercial development such as a professional office complex," the study said about the Nicewonder site.
"Such a complex could be designed to preserve a majority of the oak trees on the property. These trees are a significant community resource and proposals for their preservation should be incorporated into any rezoning."
The Blacksburg planning department has recommended against the rezoning.
"The staff does not believe the design of the plan is sensitive to the natural features of the property," the report said.
"The buildings have not been sited in such a way . . . to limit the removal of the many mature trees on the property."