Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140132
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GOODE LENGTH: Long
Sound good? Ed Owen, the semiretired owner of Owens Market on 460, thought so.
But Owen's property is still grass and weeds instead of streets and houses, and he is still paying taxes on vacant land instead of reaping profits.
Unfortunately for him, his land is about five miles from the nearest fire station. It also has no sewer service and isn't in one of the regions where Bedford County encourages development.
For those reasons, even though no surrounding property owner disputed the proposed subdivision, it scored too low under the county's Land Use Guidance System and was struck down by the Planning Commission.
It was the second time Owen has had a project turned down by what he says is an arbitrary system that holds back growth: LUGS, the county's unconventional zoning method, which scores projects on such criteria as road access and compatibility with neighboring development.
"It's just not right. Some man could have the prettiest property in the world, but, if it's not in the growth area, you can't build on it. It's like Russia. It's unconstitutional," Owen said.
Owen is so infuriated with LUGS that he started an anonymous petition this fall asking the county Board of Supervisors to replace LUGS with traditional zoning. With the help of friends, Owen has been planting copies of the petition like a Johnny Appleseed on counters in general stores and convenience marts across Bedford County.
Sitting on the counter of Owens Market, with coffee stains and cigarette burns, an eight-page copy of the petition has collected about 130 signatures. Elsewhere, it's been variously successful.
Owen hopes the petitions will show the Board of Supervisors how unpopular LUGS is with county residents.
He argues that there is no common sense in LUGS, citing how he was turned down for a proposed trailer park because it wouldn't be in the growth area. Maybe so, Owen said, but the trailer park would have been next door to another park he's been operating since the 1970s. "What sense does that make?"
Early this year, the board asked the Planning Commission to prepare a study in 1995 evaluating the success of LUGS and determining how feasible it would be for the county to replace it with conventional zoning or a combination of both.
Exactly what Owen is asking for, right? Maybe, but a study just isn't quick enough, he said.
"It doesn't change anything. It's talk, that's all it is. What LUGS should be is done away with. That's what I think."
Even some board members are a little unsure of LUGS. Supervisor Calvin Updike said, "LUGS is pretty complicated, in my opinion. I didn't vote for it, but I don't know that I'd vote to do away with it, either."
Bedford County needs zoning laws, Updike said, but "I just don't know that LUGS is the answer. There's too much bureaucracy in it, in my opinion."
"People feel very strongly about LUGS, and I think the way they feel depends on how they fared under it," said Garland Page Jr., director of community development.
"Some say it gives citizens more control over what happens, and others say it pits neighbor against neighbor at the [public] hearings," he said, adding that disagreements also would happen under conventional zoning.
LUGS forces the county to look more closely at each project's impact on neighbors than it would under conventional zoning, he said.
In Owen's case, since the area where he wants to build his subdivision is mostly farmland, it probably would be zoned agricultural and require a rezoning hearing, anyway.
Deborah Kendall, a community development planner, said, "My personal opinion is [LUGS opponents] would not be any happier with conventional zoning than they are with LUGS.
"In some cases, it would be easier for projects to go through, but a lot of development could take place without citizen input."
Some say that wouldn't be so bad.
Owen's son-in-law, Dale Hull, said, "It gives people around your land too much say-so about what you do with it."
Hull has had two projects go through LUGS - a body shop and a mobile home park. Both were approved. "It went relatively smooth for me ... but I grew up with [my neighbors]; they all said 'Let the man build what he wants.' But if I had been with people who didn't know me, I might not have gotten my body shop built."
Another problem he has with LUGS is the expense. "Every time I went up there to the planning office, they charged me for something, and if you get turned down, all the money you've spent is gone."
An average LUGS application costs between $200 and $300. Assessment, review and other fees total $120 of that amount. Because LUGS charges a $5 fee for each acre to be developed, application fees for larger projects, such as Owen's subdivision, can cost as much as $1,000. And that's not including the cost of newspaper notices and mailing letters to all homeowners within 1,500 feet of the proposed development. However, Page said costs for a rezoning hearing probably are comparable.
Then there's the time Hull said his LUGS applications took - between four and six months each.
"LUGS is probably a little more cumbersome for simple projects," Page said. "If you can almost anticipate approval, LUGS is probably a burden. But it's probably more efficient [than a rezoning hearing] for complicated projects."
One possible solution that will be looked at next year is implementing conventional zoning in urban areas and keeping LUGS in rural areas to preserve the quality of life, Page said.
In the next few months, the county also will be expanding some growth areas, and Owen hopes the extensions will include the areas he wants to develop.
Ironically, Owen's patchwork quilt of property holdings on 460 probably wouldn't have been approved under most conventional zoning ordinances. His house is directly behind his market, next door to his trucking company, within sight of his gas station and adjacent to his mobile home park.
If Bedford County switches to conventional zoning, his property would be grandfathered in, as would all existing property. But vacant properties would be assigned uses, which would require rezonings to change and could create new arguments.
Owen said he probably will resubmit his applications next year. But, he said, "now I've got to go through the same thing all over again, and it's still possible I could be turned down."
by CNB