Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280023
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
BEDROOM COMMUNITY GRAPPLES WITH GROWTH
Botetourt County's borders have gotten smaller since the 1700s, when they reached through seven states to the Mississippi River through Wisconsin.A more immediate change has been in recent years. The rural county has become a center of residential and commercial growth.
As the boundaries shrank and more people moved to Botetourt, natives of the county feared what urbanization would do to their easy country living. Ironically, country living's also a major lure for newcomers.
In the last 10 years there was $200 million worth of construction in Botetourt. During the last three years alone there was $81 million in construction, 70 percent of which was homes, according to statistics compiled by the county.
"We hope to have more industry in next year," said Robert Layman, chairman of Botetourt's Board of Supervisors. "There are a lot of opportunities in the county that are being recognized."
Those opportunities include access to several highway systems, relatively low tax rates and availability to Roanoke.
Roadways were carved through rolling hills. Interstate 81 and U.S. 220 have paved Botetourt's conversion from agriculture to Roanoke Valley's bedroom.
Before new highways were built through the county, it took about an hour to travel between Eagle Rock and Roanoke. It now takes about 45 minutes.
For the most part, the easy-access feature has helped the southern portion of the county - including the Blue Ridge and Valley districts - become the heavy growth area.
Access to public water and sewage systems also helped - and is one of the most talked-about problems the county. It is one of the reasons more subdivisions haven't cropped up in the northern sector of the county. Public sewerage and the water system extend only as far north as Fincastle. A new sewage treatment plant was, however, recently completed in Eagle Rock.
Jerry Burgess, Botetourt County's administrator, said public utilities are being installed where outdated ones are failing.
"There's more of a funding problem than anything else," he said.
According to the 1990 U.S. Census, 3,490 households in the county use public or private water systems. There were 6,295 Botetourt households with individual water wells. There were 1,731 households that used a public sewage system and 8,054 that had septic tanks, cesspools or other means of disposal.
Layman, a native of Botetourt, said he's seen a great deal of growth in the county during the past 40 years. Hills that once were lined with apple and peach orchards and grazing livestock have been enveloped in homes.
Although there is a lot of available land in the county, the growth has meant more homes built on small tracts in the southern part.
Rowland Wampler said he hasn't been able to sell a good farm property in a long time.
Wampler, who has been in Botetourt since 1958, said there was a time when he sold real estate in Roanoke County to supplement the minimum business that was once characteristic of Botetourt. That's changed.
"All these orchards around Daleville," he said, pausing, "it's not going to be long before they're subdivisions."
Last year, Wampler said, his company - Wampler Realty in Troutville - had $5 million to $6 million in sales.
And it's not just people from Roanoke who want a piece of the country.
"You'd be surprised at the people who just pass through and think it's so beautiful that they get off the interstate and find us," he said.
Although his bread and butter is residential sales, Wampler said, he is seeing growth in commercial sales in the county.
Wampler is working on a deal to sell land to Food Lion Inc. for a new supermarket in Daleville.
The attractive tax rate also has made settling in the county attractive, Wampler said. The county's real estate taxes are 75 cents per each $100 of a property's value, compared to Roanoke's $1.25 and Roanoke County's $1.13.
Many subdivisions started cropping up in the 1970s and catered to people who wanted the serenity of country living but accessibility to the city, with Roanoke just minutes away.
Roanoke-based Fralin & Waldron Inc. has been one of the dominant developers in Botetourt since the 1970s when it built Botetourt East, a subdivision of single-family houses.
"It's gone very well," said Andy Kelderhouse, vice president of construction and development at Fralin & Waldron. The company is building seven houses and usually sells 30 to 35 homes a year in south Botetourt, he added. They cost $70,000 to $100,000.
Developer and contractor Steve Strauss is banking on the same enthusiasm from home buyers to sell homes a new subdivision in the Blue Ridge area of south Botetourt.
"This is the highest concentration area to build," said the owner of Roanoke's Strauss Construction Inc. "People like the convenience."
Strauss is beginning a new subdivision, Apple Tree West, off of Alternate U.S. 220 in southern Botetourt. It will be near other developments - Apple Tree Village, Hunter's Green, Orchard Hills and Steeple Chase - and is near the site of a planned middle school.
Residents there have flawless views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They'll also be a 20-minute drive from downtown Roanoke via U.S. 460.
By June, Strauss expects to have the first of 35 homes completed. The project will take three years to complete. The homes will be priced at $70,000 to $100,000, targeted to young couples, families and retired people.
Many of the homes, predominately in the southern part of Botetourt, have sold for more than $100,000, Strauss said. The average home in the county sold in 1992 for about $88,000, according to information from the county, compared to $50,000 in Roanoke and $80,000 in Roanoke County.
Strauss said the Blue Ridge and Valley districts in southern Botetourt are good growth areas because of the road improvements and the available public water and sewage system. Developers are required to connect their water and sewage systems onto the public system.
He compares the growth in Botetourt County to that in Southwest Roanoke County in the 1970s and 1980s and, "as we ran out of land in Southwest Roanoke, we moved to Botetourt."
Burgess noted that growth in Botetourt has included commercial and industrial projects as well as home building. While the subdivisions speak for the residential growth, he pointed out the numerous commercial sites that have cropped up at interstate exits and along highways. The county also has two industrial parks and shares Jack C. Smith Industrial Park on U.S. 460 with Roanoke County.
Burgess has been administrator for less than six months. However, he has concluded that the future of Botetourt involves both residential and commercial development.
Growth commercially in the county will be along Alternate U.S. 220, formerly Virginia 604, he said. The roadway is being widened to four lanes.
"We're trying to manage the growth as well as we can," Burgess said. He added that he wants to see the county grow, but "I don't see it getting as big as Roanoke County any time soon."
Although commercial real estate tax rate in Botetourt is the same as for residential property, Burgess said the county could increase its revenue by increasing the assessed value. Last year the county's total assessed value was $1 billion. He said it's doubled in the last 10 years. The money would go toward improving and expanding services, Burgess said.
"We're planning a lot of new things to prepare for the growth," Layman said.
Along with looking to improve two existing schools, Burgess said, there are long-term plans to build another elementary school - as well as the middle school already on the drawing board - in the southern part of the county.
"You can't equate growth with increase in services," he said. However, it will be necessary to adjust these services to meet growing needs for more educational facilities and more sewer and water systems.
Memo: the houses in the Apple Tree West subdivision will cost an average of