Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 11, 1993 TAG: 9310110071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BY DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER LENGTH: Medium
But preservationists say Boone's offer is a public relations ploy, not a sincere effort to prevent suburbia from spoiling views along the parkway in Roanoke County.
"He's structured it so that it's impossible for us to buy it," said Lynn Davis of the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a nationwide group.
Boone has told Roanoke County officials he will charge $259,500 to $389,000 - or up to $48,625 per acre - for the property. Boone would pass along the price of the land ($15,000 per acre) plus the cost of improvements such as roads, storm drains and sewer lines.
"The price offered will be at our cost," according to a full-page newspaper advertisement that Boone, Boone & Loeb placed in Sunday's Roanoke Times & World-News.
Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway said they would be willing to launch a fund-raising campaign if Boone would sell the land for $120,000 without passing along other costs.
"We're not responsible for his roads. We will not - even if we could - raise money for that," Davis said Sunday.
She noted that the price could rise to as much as $1.5 million if preservationists also wanted to buy another 20 acres on the south side of the parkway.
John Lambert, a public relations specialist hired by Boone, said Boone was not trying to make a profit on the land, but simply to pass along his direct costs.
The terms of Boone's offer could be a sticking point Tuesday when Boone goes before the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors to request a zoning change on the property.
"I really think it will come down to negotiating on the floor," said Elmer Hodge, Roanoke County administrator.
Hodge said he has encouraged Boone to set the price so that Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway would have a reasonable chance to raise money for the purchase.
"I'd like to see him allow it to be sold [for $15,000 an acre], but he won't do that."
Boone is seeking to develop the Beasley property, a 300-plus acre farm that is bisected by the Blue Ridge Parkway in Southwest Roanoke County, near Cotton Hill Road.
In the newspaper ad, Boone said he was seeking to build "affordable housing" in the Back Creek area. The ad did not mention home prices, but in the past Boone has said they would not exceed $200,000.
The ad also stated that Boone would postpone plans to build houses on 200-plus acres south of the parkway, including a 20-acre pasture that has been identified as one of 11 "critical" parkway vistas in Roanoke County.
The ad stated that Boone would focus on 83 acres north of the parkway, including an 8-acre grassy knoll that lies within a second critical vista.
The ad listed several restrictions that Boone would place on the property:
The density on the 75 acres not in the critical vista would be no greater than 2.5 houses per acre. That is less than 6 houses per acre allowed in R-1 districts, but higher than the 1.9 houses per acre in the Penn Forest area.
If preservationists did not buy the land, Boone would build no more than five houses in the 8 acres and use architectural standards designed to blend the houses with the rustic parkway setting.
No house would be built any closer than 450 feet - or 1 1/2 football fields - from the center line of the parkway.
Davis contended that several claims in the ad were misleading, especially a large, bold phrase - "The Parkway Blessing" - that she said suggested the National Park Service had approved Boone's proposal.
The fact is, Davis said, the National Park Service is on record favoring absolutely no development within the critical vistas.
"Boone didn't tell the whole truth," Davis said. "If he sells houses with the half-truths that he put in this ad, he can't have a single satisfied customer in the Roanoke Valley."
Boone stands by the accuracy of the ad.
Lambert noted that the "The Parkway's Blessing" headline was followed by an undisputed statement that the Park Service had agreed that 75 acres north of the parkway were not part of the critical vistas.
Lambert denied that the headline was meant to suggest that the Park Service had approved all of Boone's plan.
"That's clear. It doesn't suggest that at all."
by CNB