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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994                   TAG: 9405060093
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

PLANNING DOESN'T GET DUE, CHAIRMAN SAYS

Jeff London, who leaves his four-year appointment at the end of the month, cited three planning concerns in a letter to Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous. He wrote the letter last month but it wasn't publicly released until this week.

The first concern is that the Board of Supervisors did nothing with the U.S. 460/Virginia 114 Corridor Planning Advisory Council and the so-called "open-space" plan, which London described as "good, reasonable and by no means radical planning tools."

A judge mandated the corridor council as part of Christiansburg's 1988 annexation of the area around the New River Valley Mall. It was supposed to be a forum for Christiansburg, Blacksburg and the county to share ideas on ways to plan for development in the area, which has since become a four-county center for retail shopping.

The Board of Supervisors declined to fund the council for the coming fiscal year. The council, citing insufficient support from the towns and the county, suspended operations in December and is defunct.

The supervisors also rejected the "open-space" plan, officially titled the conservation and development amendment to the county's comprehensive plan. The board voted it down in December amid concerns from some members that it was too far-reaching and infringed on property rights.

London's second concern involved Montgomery's penchant for secrecy: "Major considerations such as the locating of schools, waste dumps and industrial parks are wrongfully kept from public view and professional considerations, a practice that is expensive for the county in terms of money and good will."

Finally, London cited a "growing attitude that separates an owner's land use rights from ... responsibilities."

"Owning and using property is a privilege bestowed by the public in return for certain agreements that maintain the public welfare," London wrote. "The idea shared by a growing number of people that ownership bestows unlimited rights which we (serving the public) are trying to take away is misguided and wrong. This attitude leads to unresolvable dilemmas, namely: 'What I do with my property is a right, what you do with yours is a nuisance.'"

London, executive director of a nonprofit housing development corporation in Wytheville, got married last month and is moving to Rochester, N.Y., to join his bride. He had lived in Blacksburg since coming here for graduate school in 1983.