Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 10, 1993 TAG: 9403090007
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GINNY DAVIS OWEN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If you say land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway off Cotton Hill Road, then you may be in agreement not only with developers Len Boone and Steve Strauss, but also with the Roanoke County Planning and Zoning Department, the Roanoke County Planning Commission and County Administrator Elmer Hodge.
Won't this damage our national treasure, the Blue Ridge Parkway?
No problem. Carve out 30 of the 400-plus acres, call it "critical" and build only 20 houses on that small tract.
Won't this high-density development seriously threaten the wildlife habitat?
No problem. The Roanoke Valley has a zoo.
Build dense subdivisions on land that does not perk?
No problem. Have county taxpayers pay Roanoke city to handle the sewage.
Won't these developments overburden wells already going dry in the Penn Forest-Clearbrook area?
No problem. Those new developments will draw from these wells for only a couple of years, until the Spring Hollow reservoir comes through this property.
Won't putting about 10,000 additional car trips per day on a winding, narrow, rural mountain road be dangerous?
No problem. Throw an estimated 8 million in taxpayer dollars into developing this three-mile-long road to accommodate the increased traffic.
But won't this high-density development seriously strain already crowded schools?
No problem. Spend taxpayers' money to create temporary "trailer park" schools.
Won't R-1 zoning designation violate the county's own comprehensive development plan?
No problem. Just call the plan an "outdated general guide."
Won't local citizens, parkway-protection groups and tourists be outraged?
No problem. Publicly propose a reasonable AR zoning compromise (25,000-square-foot minimum lot size).
Won't Boone and Strauss be upset with the proposed AR zoning?
No problem. Privately promise Boone and Strauss a "deal" that would let them build an average of 2.5 houses per acre if they will agree not to sue Roanoke County.
That way the county can pacify the citizens by telling them they have hammered the developers down to 2.5 lots per acre, which is only 1,000 houses! When actually, this 2.5 "compromise" gives the developers more density than their publicly stated intentions.
The Board of Supervisors will be voting on this issue at a Sept. 14 meeting.
Supervisors should support the proposed AR zoning for land adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway, instead of kowtowing to the special interests of two developers.
\ Ginny Davis Owen is on the board of Citizens for Responsible Rural Growth, recently formed in opposition to the Cotton Hill Road rezoning proposal.
by CNB