Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993                   TAG: 9309170214
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEIGHBORS DROPPED FROM PARKWAY SUIT

So they'll find some other way of voicing opposition to a proposed subdivision in their community, their attorney said Thursday.

Circuit Judge G.O. Clemens on Thursday denied a petition from the Citizens for Responsible Rural Growth to intervene in Norma Sigmon's lawsuit against the board.

Sigmon has about 77 acres under a purchase contract to Strauss Construction Corp., which wants to build houses on the tract. The land lies near the Blue Ridge Parkway and has been wrapped up in a nine-month zoning controversy to protect views along the national scenic highway.

The board rezoned the farm this week from agricultural to residential use under a deal with Strauss. In return, the construction company agreed to drop the lawsuit and to limit development to 2.5 homes per acre.

Bradley McGraw, attorney for the group of residents of Cotton Hill Road near the Sigmon property, said the suit will effectively be dismissed when the judge signs the consent decree between Strauss and the county.

Clemens characterized the case as a "private dispute" between those two parties, McGraw said, and found no immediate harm to the nearby residents from the county's action.

"That will not, however, conclude the action of the citizens to address the impropriety of Roanoke County," McGraw said. The group claims that it was excluded from the negotiations between Strauss and the county, and that the deal was not proffered as part of the public record.

The residents will pursue their case, McGraw said, although he would not say specifically what they plan to do.

Among other complaints, the residents have said that developing the farm would destroy one of the county's remaining rural views from the parkway, which draws millions of tourists every year who want to enjoy the scenery.

But the property is virtually out of sight, said Steven Strauss, president of the construction company. "A mountain has been made out of a molehill."

Heading south on the parkway, a person driving the speed limit would see "a smidgen of the Sigmon property . . . for less than a second." A 25-foot bank blocks the view from the parkway, he said.

Strauss met with parkway officials months ago, and they told him his proposal would not affect the view, he said.

The company probably will build fewer than 2.5 homes per acre because of the hilly terrain, but he wanted the flexibility to build that many because of uncertain market conditions and building costs over the next 10 years, he said.