Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 17, 1995 TAG: 9501170149
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's becoming as common as a boat wake at Smith Mountain Lake: the lake residents against those who would set lake precedents.
Read: not in my back yard.
The battle has been waged numerous times in recent months.
The latest installment will unfold tonight. Virginia Ratliff, owner of Indian Point Marina off Virginia 616 on the Roanoke River channel of the lake, is asking for a rezoning to expand the marina and for a special-use permit for a 136-space "recreational vehicle park," as described by her lawyer, Clyde Perdue.
The Franklin County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on Ratliff's request at 6 p.m. in the Benjamin Franklin Middle School auditorium. The board is scheduled to vote on the matter after the hearing.
Perdue will present Ratliff's case.
"Everybody likes to call it a 'campground,' but we don't like to call it that," he said.
All 136 RV sites would have sewer, water and electricity hookups, he said, adding that no other campground on the lake offers all three services on such a large scale. About half of the sites would accommodate seasonal travelers who could leave the RVs or campers at the park year-round, but could only vacation during the camping season from April 1 through Oct. 31.
The remaining sites would be rented to those wishing to stay overnight or for "a couple of weeks," Perdue said.
Close to 100 new boat slips also are included in the plans for the 31-acre development, and the marina would be expanded for boat rentals and service.
"This park will help tourism at the lake, and it will certainly increase the county's tax revenue," Perdue said.
Charles Zimmerman, president of the Long Island Citizens Association, lives on Long Island Drive just around the bend from the proposed campground. He said he plans to attend the hearing tonight.
"It will put an awful lot of boats with irresponsible drivers in a small area. And that's bad," said Zimmerman, a retiree who moved to the lake 11 years ago.
Opposition, mostly from subdivision residents who live near the marina, has swelled. More than 100 people opposing the development attended a county Planning Commission meeting in November.
Other reasons cited for denying the the development include poor aesthetics and the campground's incompatibility with the subdivisions that would border it.
The Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of Ratliff's request to the Board of Supervisors.
The supervisors are no strangers to contested zoning issues around Smith Mountain Lake.
They recently passed along to a Roanoke mediator a squabble over seasonal home rentals at the lake.
Then there was the request by Rockydale Quarry Inc. to open a rock-mining business on Jacks Mountain near the lake - a request the board approved in October in front of an overflow crowd at the middle school.
And there was Ronnie Wray's request last year - approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality - to operate a sand-mining operation on the Blackwater River arm of the lake. While the issue was not in the board's hands, the supervisors kept a close eye on it.
"The lake is being made smaller and smaller every day," said Blackwater District Supervisor Wayne Angell.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.