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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 16, 1994                   TAG: 9403160064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                LENGTH: Short

SUPERVISORS VOTE TO REZONE FOR STORE

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to rezone 38 acres along Virginia 40, but tabled a request for a special-use permit to provide for a proposed Wal-Mart Superstore until they've had a chance to review a revised traffic study.

"Everything's really going on schedule," said Rocky Mount lawyer Clyde Perdue, who is representing the Richmond Development Group, a Glen Allen land-acquisition concern hired to negotiate the store proposal.

"That's what we asked them to do," he said.

Another public hearing is scheduled April 19 on the special-use permit. The board could vote again then.

By delaying action on the special-use permit, the board will have time to review a revised traffic study on the proposed store's potential impact on an already congested stretch of Virginia 40.

The revised study, which was conducted by the Richmond Development Group, is more extensive than the first one, using 24-hour traffic counters to assess the current traffic situation and how much the store would compound it.

The original study only counted traffic during peak shopping hours.

Withholding the vote also gives the board more time to gather input from citizens. Residents of the Union Heights district submitted a petition to the board voicing their concerns over the traffic situation.

The board is sponsoring a workshop April 5 with landowners along the Virginia 40 corridor to present two options for redesign of the road.

Dick Keller, the county's transportation consultant, said that the county can either widen the road to four lanes with a raised median or five lanes with a median turning lane.

by CNB