Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 1, 1993 TAG: 9309080419
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The National Park Service has lent its weight to opponents of subdividing the ``bowl and knoll'' pastureland on the Beasley property in Roanoke County. The developer has said he's willing to discuss selling that small part of the property so it can be preserved.
Any sale is a long way from happening, though. And if it can be arranged, which is far from certain, the tract is but one of 11 identified as critical to the parkway viewshed in Roanoke County alone.
The park service is starting a much-needed study of the entire 470-mile road to update its land protection plan. The plan, last reviewed in 1988, lists no sites in Roanoke County in need of protection. Yet the Roanoke Valley, as the largest metropolitan area on the parkway, is in particular need of help to protect a few valuable views as housing development presses into the mountains.
The park service study isn't expected to be completed till the end of the year. And if some or all of the Roanoke County sites make it onto its list, getting funding to either buy land or acquire scenic easements from the deficit-strangled federal government would be the next, even higher, hurdle to leap.
Land has to be on the list to be eligible for what money is made available, though, so getting the critical viewsheds on that list is an important step.
Even so, official batting around is unlikely to get very far without public interest. The more widespread and vocal the support proves to be for parkway protection, the greater the priority it will get from the government. In addition, the nonprofit Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway has started a land-acquisition fund that is taking tax-deductible contributions.
It could take as long as five years for building to begin on the bowl and knoll section - possibly time for the slow-moving federal bureaucracy to work in concert with Roanoke County to preserve this one site, if the public and private interests at work can come to agreement on the terms.
That would leave only the rest of the parkway's length to worry about.
No one expects that there will be no further development along this ribbon of historic beauty. But if it is not done with careful planning, the parkway stands to lose much of the rural flavor and scenery that inspire more than 23 million people to drive along it each year.
The park service is making a good start in updating its land protection list. But the localities around Roanoke County also must recognize the peculiar fragility of the parkway's integrity through this populous area, and work together to help set the development agenda.
So far, this has been Roanoke County's controversy. Surrounding jurisdictions may be watching with interest, but they have been silent as the battle of the Blue Ridge unfolds. They have no formal role to play. Yet what happens on any piece of the parkway has an impact on the whole - and the closer that piece is to your own, the greater the impact on you.
Roanoke County and the counties of Botetourt, Bedford and Franklin, along with the city of Roanoke and the town of Vinton, should join in a consortium with the parkway to plan for inevitable growth. Salem might want to join, too, since it looks out to parkway viewsheds.
Inevitably, the faces of these localities will be changing. If they are to have some control over what they, and the parkway, will look like, they need to plan in earnest now. It's getting late.
by CNB