Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 22, 1993 TAG: 9312220182
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"The zoning ordinance, while not perfect, has served Franklin County through many years of growth and development," Boone District Supervisor Homer Murray read from a prepared statement.
Under a compromise reached in 1988, the faster-growing northeastern part of the county - Boone, Gills Creek, Union Hall and Rocky Mount districts - were zoned. The other districts - Snow Creek, Blue Ridge and Blackwater - were not.
The board took action after hearing from Elton Cundiff, a Union Hall District resident who recently packed about 350 people into a meeting at the Glade Hill Elementary School to voice their opposition to zoning to Supervisor Lois English.
Cundiff told the board Tuesday that residents in the four zoned districts should have been able to vote on the zoning issue as residents in the unzoned districts did.
"All we want is the equal opportunity our fellow neighbors got," he said.
In November's election, voters in Snow Creek, Blue Ridge and Blackwater overwhelmingly said no to land-use zoning in an advisory referendum, further delaying the supervisors' attempt to unify Franklin County under one zoning law.
"I'm inclined to agree with you that everyone should have voted, but I think you are going to the wrong board," Murray said. "You should approach the legislature."
Murray also conceded that the process for obtaining a land-use permit is long and cumbersome.
"We should make every effort to speed up the process when a person applies," he said. "But I do not agree that we should do away with zoning."
English, who told residents at the public meeting that she would weigh all sides before deciding where she stands on the issue, said that she now supports the ordinance.
"We must have something to protect our county from being a dumping ground," she said.
In other business, the board approved a request for $5,000 from three business leaders representing Job Link, a group that is lobbying for an interstate highway from Roanoke to Greensboro, N.C.
The group, which includes 15 people from Southside Virginia and neighboring Rockingham County, N.C., will use the money to hold hearings, pay expenses and conduct more studies on the danger of U.S. 220 to make their case for an improved highway.
by CNB