Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160106
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The neighbors will submit a letter to the county's planning commission tonight asking that more restrictions be included in Planned Unit Development zoning if it is applied to land near existing residential developments, said George Flick, one of the group's organizers.
The zoning allows landowners to mix low- and high-density residential housing with commercial uses when developing a site. While developers must make plans much more specific to get the zoning, they can avoid breaking up a site into a mish-mash of smaller lots that would have to be rezoned individually to suit an overall purpose.
The county has been considering adding Planned Unit Development to its zoning package for several years. The Planning Commission is expected to pass recommendations on it and several other types of zoning onto the county's Board of Supervisors, which will take up the matter at its meeting Monday, said Joe Powers, the county's planning director.
A debate over the issue could directly impact the proposed $200 million retirement community. Developers want the site's 300 acres rezoned to allow a 1,500-unit mixture of houses, condominiums, and recreational and commercial facilities that would cater to a 55 and older populace.
"It may be a hidden agenda to make it difficult for the community," said Bob Rogers, an architect with Architectural Alternatives Inc. of Blacksburg. His company is working with project manager Wendell White of Virginia Beach and Floyd County partners William Farr and Joseph Edone, who hold options on the land.
Rogers said a detailed site plan is to be submitted Friday to Blacksburg, where 56.5 acres of the community would be located. But before the developers can submit a plan to the county, the supervisors must make Planned Unit Development zoning a part of their zoning framework.
"It's step one before you can do step two," Powers said.
Flick, who lives in the Murphy subdivision just outside Blacksburg, said he and others aren't necessarily against the retirement community, or even the new zoning per se, but want assurances that its usage won't affect the quality of life for homeowners who have tried to avoid commercial or over-developed areas.
"We're not saying 'PUDs' are bad," said Flick, who spoke at last week's planning commission meeting and brought nine of his neighbors into his home Tuesday night to review the zoning and begin drafting the letter.
"There are a lot of places where that legislation could fit very well," he said. But Flick, whose home overlooks the land where the retirement community would be built, also said, "when you do go next to neighbors, we would [hope] that the law would be more restrictive."
Rogers said the developers have met with nearby residents, listened to their concerns, and adjusted some of their plans accordingly.
He said Planned Unit Development zoning contains "self-restricting" points that force a developer to consider the neighbors.
The zoning - and the retirement community - may provide for better development than those residents would eventually get otherwise, Rogers said. "That piece of property will not be empty forever.
"I personally think it would be a major mistake not to enact [the new zoning], regardless of our project," Rogers said. "It's a good tool."
That may be so, but Flick said he wants to spark discussion now on how the zoning will be used. "I think the bigger issue is, 'What about the rest of the county?'" he said.
Flick, a 54-year old food science professor at Virginia Tech who has lived here since 1971, said he and his neighbors are sympathetic toward the retirement community proposal. "I don't want to hit old people too hard ... because I'll be one of them. A lot of our neighbors fall into that group. We see both sides."
But he worries about how the landscape could change around him. "We just don't want the character change. This land has been zoned R-2 [limited residential] since the '60s.
"We didn't fight the law at first. But then all of a sudden you see what could happen."
by CNB