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

DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994                   TAG: 9406060082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FOREST                                LENGTH: Short

CHURCH ASKS TO EXPAND NEAR RETREAT

From the country retreat of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, you already can see houses and a golf course. Now a church is seeking to build a larger sanctuary within view of the historic property.

"The only issue is the view," said Lynn Beebe, executive director of the Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest. "The church is bigger than the houses. . . . It looms on the horizon, making it possibly more prominent."

Travis McDonald, restoration coordinator for Poplar Forest, is worried about the impact a new Poplar Forest Baptist Church would have on visitors.

"We've tried to provide a historic setting" for the historic retreat, he said at a public hearing last month. "We have purchased property to protect the viewshed. . . . This property is in the viewshed."

The 100-member congregation's current church is in the Poplar Forest housing development. The congregation, organized in 1988, is ready to expand to the new church, which will seat 500 and include space for education and fellowship.

In addition to the historic setting, the issue of increased traffic on a poorly maintained private road through the area is a concern to some neighbors.

by CNB