Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993 TAG: 9311250029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BETH OBENSHAIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Next door in Roanoke County, the same government and business leaders who like to talk tourism are watching the county's single biggest attraction - the Blue Ridge Parkway - be despoiled by a large residential development.
At a time when every locale is scrambling to develop and market tourist attractions, why wouldn't you protect a proven asset that draws 22 million visitors and spins off $1.3 billion to the local economies along its route?
Ten or 15 years ago, Roanoke County might have been able to buy the land - or a scenic easement protecting the land's rural character - for a pittance of what the developer is now demanding.
Apparently, no one thought ahead.
Now that development has edged up to and overtaken the area, the developer's price for selling the land is so steep that its purchase by either the county or a private group of parkway supporters appears impossible. The county's zoning and land use ordinances also failed to protect this strip of our region's heritage.
As easy as it is to criticize our neighbors, we'd better check what's happening in our own backyard.
The New River Valley's natural beauty is always mentioned as one of its greatest assets whenever local citizens talk about the future - whether it is attracting new industry or simply enhancing the quality of life for those of us already here.
Development is nudging into rural parts of the valley once though immune from urbanization, such as Floyd County, which boasts a stretch of the parkway.
Houses are popping up along the county's scenic ridgelines as Roanokers move farther out for the mountain views.
Most of us have assumed for years that the panoramas of old farmsteads and forests along the parkway were owned and protected by the federal government. Not so.
The parkway is dangerously thin along much of its route, and the view of forests and farmland is vulnerable to private development.
How does our valley preserve this natural beauty at the same time as it promotes growth?
Will we plan ahead? Will we avoid the mistakes of our neighbors and protect our region's significant natural landmarks?
One far-sighted locality, Albuquerque, N.M., recognized the value of its significant natural landmark and bought the slopes of the towering Sandia Mountains at the city's limits to protect it from development.
There could be any number of solutions for preserving our natural areas - but only if people realize and plan before a crisis occurs.
Once a crisis surfaces it's too late.
At present Floyd County has no plans or strategy to protect the parkway.
If a threat develops such as happened in Roanoke County, local residents may wonder why their leaders weren't more farsighted.
Will we in the New River Valley learn from our neighbors' mistakes and be smart enough to figure out how to answer the sometimes conflicting interests of landowners, business interests, community residents and local government in devising a way to protect our landmarks?
If we do, we will have preserved a part of our heritage that sets our valley apart.
by CNB