Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 5, 1993 TAG: 9307050026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As a result, there is confusion over how many houses Boone could build within a 20-acre pasture considered the county's most pristine parkway view.
Boone's understanding is that he would be allowed to build about 12 houses in the bowl-shaped pasture, located off Cotton Hill Road in Southwest Roanoke County.
But the parkway committee has yet to recommend housing density for the pasture or other "critical" views along the scenic roadway.
The situation is rife with confusion because of the informal way in which County Administrator Elmer Hodge set up the committee. The five-member panel has kept no notes of its secret meetings and has issued no written reports.
Hodge appointed the committee in December after Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Gary Everhardt condemned Roanoke County's plan to open hundreds of acres of agricultural land along the parkway to high-density residential development.
The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors put the proposal on hold to give county officials time to evaluate the impact on the scenic roadway, which is considered the county's top tourism draw. Boone promptly sued, claiming the county arbitrarily limited his rights to develop the property.
Hodge hoped to resolve the situation with a committee comprised of Boone, a second developer, two U.S. Park Service employees and one member of Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Hodge said he believes the committee has reached a workable compromise for the property that Boone wants to develop.
"I think the process is good," Hodge said, "and one that I think we could use again."
But some wonder why Hodge wants to give Boone the green light before the parkway review is complete. One committee member suggested that the whole process was a sham.
"Unfortunately, at this point in time, it strongly appears that it [setting up the committee] was a way the county could ease into its plan with a little more grace than it had last fall," said Lynn Davis, who represents Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The parkway committee was given a broad mandate:
Identify land adjacent to the narrow parkway corridor that is highly visible to motorists.
Suggest ways to preserve parkway views by imposing limits on development densities and recommending design standards for houses.
Everyone agrees with what happened in the first phase. The committee focused on 11 tracts with "critical" parkway views. Two of those tracts were part of the 317-acre Cotton Hill Road farm that Boone wants to develop.
What happened next is open to interpretation.
Boone contends that the parkway committee agreed not to impose further development limits on the critical tracts presently zoned for agricultural use.
In particular, Boone said the committee agreed that two critical portions of the Cotton Hill Road property he wants to develop will remain AG-1, which would allow him to build one house for every 1 1/2 acre.
But Davis contends the committee has made no such decision.
Davis says the bowl-shaped pasture on Boone's land is so exposed to the parkway that any development would be a disaster. She said she hopes the county will come up with a creative way to make the pasture a permanent "greenway."
"The existing zoning may be AG-1, but after looking at this further we may decide that this is doggone wrong," she said.
Boone insists that decisions on density have been made. The only thing left for the committee to do, he said, is to come up with some recommended design standards that would help residential developments blend with the parkway.
Indeed, events appear to be overtaking the parkway committee.
The Roanoke County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Tuesday night to consider rezoning land near the parkway in Southwest County, with the exception of the 11 tracts within critical views.
The commission is recommending a dense residential R-1 development for most of the land, including most of the Cotton Hill Road property that Boone wants to develop. Some 28 acres that are most visible from the parkway would remain AG-1.
Hodge said the zoning process is going forward now because the Board of Supervisors wanted the issue resolved months ago.
The parkway committee, he said, will have a chance to make further recommendations before Boone moves ahead with his plans.
"Before they actually go to the board, Len Boone is going to have to come in and proffer the protection we are asking for.
"If we have to come down on one side, we'll come down on the side of protecting the parkway," Hodge said.
But Davis has little faith that the county will force Boone to do little more than tinker with the development scheme he submitted to the Board of Supervisors in December.
The result, she predicted, will make a mockery of county officials' professed goal of preserving the parkway's rural character.
"I've never felt more helpless in my life," she said. "It is a national treasure at stake and we need some national resources to bail us out. The county has so little vision it's pathetic."
by CNB