Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 14, 1993 TAG: 9307140411
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
But the decision will be up to Pulaski Town Council when it meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The controversy goes back to an even bigger one several years ago when residential property in the same area was re-zoned B-1 for business to allow construction of the Memorial Drive Shopping Center. Property owners in the area objected and the arguments dominated council meetings for months.
"B-1 is there only through a gnat's hair," said commission member John Sadler Jr.
Charles M. Allison, administrator of the Walter W. Allison Estate, is seeking a re-zoning from R-O, a residential zone that allows offices, to B-2 general business for a tract across from the shopping center.
Leonard Hagy, a nearby resident, worried that "I'm going to be tormented by the doggoned trash. . . . I certainly don't want to see a drive-in restaurant up there. If you put in a movie, that's all right."
The Rev. Stan Armes, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of America, said some members also worried about an influx of traffic from Sonic buzzing around the neighborhood. He also said that the shopping center had proved to be a clean neighbor and presented no problems.
"It can't help but damage the property," Sadler said. "My feeling is that it would definitely damage the church property."
"If I thought it would, I wouldn't put it there," Allison replied. "Because I am the real loser if it hurts. . . . If I thought it would be a detriment, I wouldn't be trying to get it rezoned."
"Sonic, of course, is a fast-food chain," Dana Spraker, who is working with the franchise on finding a site, told the Planning Commission at a public hearing on the zoning Monday night. "It is a bit different from a McDonald's or a Wendy's."
Rather than locate off an interstate highway or a busy intersection, she said, Sonic leans more toward neighborhoods in small towns.
"They are very attuned to keeping things upscale on their property," she said. "They are very committed to a small residential area."
Spraker said Sonic has been in business since 1953 and has more than 1,200 operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and elsewhere. It is just coming into Virginia.
She said the franchise holder looking at the New River Valley wanted to locate in Radford but could find no suitable site.
She has shown him other properties already zoned for business but "this is is first choice," Spraker said.
She said the hours will be 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and a little later Friday and Saturday, with Sunday hours of 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Loitering would not be tolerated, she said.
Spraker estimated that the first year's revenue would be $800,000.
Five of the six commission members (Chairman Roy David Warburton abstained) voted for Sadler's motion to recommend no change in the zoning.
by CNB