Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230109
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Route 177 Corridor Overlay District passed by a 5-2 vote, with Supervisors Joe Stewart and Nick Rush voting no. It will apply to the 3,000 acres between Interstate 81 exit 109 and Rock Road at the Radford line, an area expected to boom because of plans to relocate Radford Community Hospital there. It includes tougher zoning rules governing roadside entrances, utilities, aesthetics and environmental impacts.
The other six zoning law changes include elements of the open-space plan, such as revised cluster development rules and Planned Unit Developments, that the board rejected a year ago. This time they passed by a 6-0 vote, with Stewart - an opponent of most land-use regulation - abstaining.
The county speeded up consideration of the six zoning amendments to help pave the way for a proposed 300-acre retirement community to be located mostly in Montgomery County just north of Blacksburg.
The board added one sentence to one of the six amendments to placate neighbors of the proposed retirement community. Residents of the Murphy and Apperson Park subdivisions had lobbied for tougher rules to limit the placement of apartment buildings and commercial development in areas bordering existing neighborhoods, such as their own.
Supervisor Jim Moore suggested the sentence, which says Planned Unit Developments - a mixture of residential and commercial uses similar to Blacksburg's Hethwood community - "must be sensitive toward [their] impact on surrounding areas that have already been developed." The Planning Commission, planning staff and supervisors will decide if a proposal is "sensitive" once a developer submits plans.
"I think they're sympathetic to what we described as a concern," said George Flick, a spokesman for the neighbors. "We hope that this line does bring some thought into looking at the surrounding area."
In other action Monday, the board:
Voted 5-2 to spend $50,000 to start consolidating the county's greenbox trash collection system, which now consists of 260 trash boxes at 60 rural sites. Though there is a general consensus to move toward having just a few staffed sites for the rural areas such as Mount Tabor, Riner and the Ellett Valley, the board remains deeply divided on several key issues. Those include whether Blacksburg and Christiansburg residents will be able to dump trash at the new greenbox sites and whether a consolidated system actually will save money and landfill space. The matter will come up again this winter during preparation of the 1995-96 budget.
Delayed scheduling a public hearing for developer Bill Matthews' request to rezone eight acres for business use behind the Market Place shopping center and directly in the path of Alternative 3A, the planned, two-mile connector of the Christiansburg and Blacksburg segments of the U.S. 460 bypass. Moore and Supervisor Henry Jablonski are concerned that rezoning the land for business will only increase its value and the likelihood that a commercial building will be erected there. That would mean a higher cost for taxpayers when the state eventually takes the land for the highway, to be built later this decade. The supervisors agreed to wait until after hearing December progress reports by highway planners on the bypass connector and the smart road.
Approved environmentalist Justin Askins' application to place his 140 acres in the Pedlar Hills into a county agricultural and forestal district. The 4-3 vote marked the first time the supervisors have allowed land into such a district for the preservation of open space, as opposed to forestry, horticulture or farming. Askins, an associate professor of English at Radford University, said he now will pursue land-use assessment and taxation for the mountainside property near Ironto. That tax break normally is available only to farmers, horticulturalists and foresters; Askins wants open-space preservation to be eligible as well.
On Oct. 11, the board separated Askins' request from those of seven other applicants. It then approved the other 864 acres, but rejected Askins' by a 4-3 vote. After criticism by Askins and the New River Valley Environmental Coalition - they contended the board singled out the professor because he doesn't plan to log or otherwise use his land - the board on Oct. 24 voted to reconsider, then tabled his application until Monday. Supervisors Stewart, Moore and Ira Long voted against it.
by CNB