Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993 TAG: 9305280057
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
They were talking about zoning.
Six years ago, people were ready to throw the Wythe County Board of Supervisors out of a building for holding a hearing on such a thing.
"It wasn't funny at the time," said Supervisor Alan Dunford, who was on the board back then.
Now a growing number of Wythe Countians are seeing zoning in a new light.
One thing that prompted it was Seacor Inc.'s unannounced plan to use the Trail Motel at Grahams Forge for a halfway house for 35 convicted felons, helping them to readjust to life away from prison.
More than 100 people who didn't want such a facility in their part of the county turned out last week to tell the supervisors so.
"We're the ones that's prisoners, and we're the ones who's being punished," said Charlie Shupe, one of the residents.
"I think zoning's a good idea, myself," said Keith Johnson, another resident of the area. "I'd a whole lot rather somebody told me I can't park a junked car on my property . . . than to have a bunch of convicts living next door to you."
The possibility of a private landfill in the Max Meadows area also has spurred a new respect for zoning.
Supervisor Andy Kegley suggested the supervisors build a fire under the county Planning Commission, which has been studying a possible zoning approach for months.
The supervisors agreed to direct the commission to get something on paper soon so it could be discussed and submitted to the public at a hearing.
One woman in the audience, however, bristled at the idea of zoning.
"This is a free world. This is a free United States," she said.
"What if the man from Seacor wants to build a halfway house on your property, though? You're not thinking," Supervisor Olin Armentrout told her.
Armentrout said one group will want zoning protection from a halfway house, another from a landfill, but that doesn't always translate into general support for zoning.
"We get excited too late," he said.
"Anybody can come into Wythe County and do anything they want to because we do not have any kind of protection," said Supervisor John Davis. "But, folks, we've got to take a hard look at what's happening to us."
Wythe County is at the intersection of two interstate highways, which can bring unwanted as well as desirable business to the area.
But even if zoning was enacted immediately - and the procedure takes at least several weeks - it would not stop something already under development.
Only one woman spoke in support of the halfway house, noting that it is a transition for prisoners whose sentences are ending. Without it, she said, they would be pushed back into society with no adjustment period, no job training and no other preparation.
"If we didn't have this, people are going to come right back into the community," she said. "Everyone's scared to get this place next door to them, but it has to go somewhere."
by CNB