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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 14, 1994                   TAG: 9404140318
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

COUNCIL DENIES CHANGE ZONING FOR SUBDIVISION

Realtor Jim Noonkester took the step he wouldn't take a year and a half ago, but the result was the same: a no-go to his hopes to build a subdivision on the northwest outskirts of town.

Town Council unanimously denied Noonkester's request Tuesday night to have 43.5 acres of land off Meadowbrook Drive rezoned from agricultural to residential so he could go ahead with his plans to build a subdivision with lots of less than an acre in size.

In November 1992, Noonkester withdrew a similar request after the town's planning commission recommended disapproval, as it also did last week.

Noonkester, who owns two parcels of land totaling 66 acres in the area, argued for "equal protection under the law," saying, "I want the same thing that my neighbors have.

"They have the right to use their land as they wish. I want to build a subdivision."

The planning commission recommended disapproval of the request on the grounds that:

the request goes against the town's comprehensive plan,

septic systems, which would have to be used since the land is not served by public sewers, aren't appropriate in small lot subdivisions,

Meadowbrook Drive and Shadow Lake Road couldn't handle the increase in traffic the development would bring,

the request didn't include enough open space.

Noonkester, who at last week's planning commission meeting, introduced himself as "the voice in the wind," said Tuesday that his plans shouldn't be hampered because the town has failed to install sewer service.

But council members agreed with the half-dozen residents who urged council to turn down the request because of possible drainage problems, the incompatibility of a subdivision in the middle of a pastoral, farmland setting and the absence of a good enough reason to spot-zone the land.

Noonkester's plans for a subdivision and Meadowbrook Drive resident Tom Meacham's horse raising "just aren't going to get along," Meacham said.

And Richard Cooper, who also lives on Meadowbrook Drive, said Noonkester "full-well knew that it was A-10 (agricultural zoning)" when he bought the land, and shouldn't be able to get the zoning changed at his whimsy.

Councilman Al Leighton said the request was a "typical example of spot rezoning with something that is completely contrary" to the area's nature.

by CNB