Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993 TAG: 9303030140
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SIDNEY'S APPEAL HEARD
An access road that would allow the Sidney's company to develop houses in South Roanoke is prohibited by a restrictive covenant, a lawyer argued in federal court Tuesday.William J. Creech, speaking for Richard McGimsey, who lives near the Peakwood Drive lot that would provide the access, said the land "may be improved only by construction of a single-family residence."
McGimsey appealed to federal court an October decision by Bankruptcy Judge Ross Krumm that the restriction on the lot does not keep Sidney's from building a road.
Part of the clothing chain's bankruptcy reorganization plan is based on development of the 50-acre tract.
Creech told U.S. Judge Samuel Wilson that the undeveloped tract "is not landlocked. It is accessible from U.S. 220."
But John Fishwick Jr., Sidney's lawyer, said the land "is worth more if there is access from Peakwood." An entrance from Peakwood would enhance the property, a real estate appraiser told an earlier Bankruptcy Court hearing.
Fishwick, saying he represents stockholders - formerly creditors - of New Sidney's, the reorganized clothing chain, said Krumm's decision should stand.
"The law favors development. Anybody who lives up there can knock a house down and build a road through it," he said, adding that the restriction on this lot "was designed to stop building an apartment house."
The only issue before the federal court, Creech said, is whether the lot restriction is ambiguous.
McGimsey has said his opposition is based on concerns in the neighborhood about an increase in traffic if homes are built on the company land, formerly owned by Sidney Weinstein, president of Sidney's.
Wilson did not rule on the case Tuesday.