Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995 TAG: 9501180091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two Roanoke Valley developers will receive private lessons next week on how to build invisible houses.
Well, not invisible, but designed to blend in with the rural scenery, hardly noticeable to the millions of visitors who cruise along the Blue Ridge Parkway enjoying the mountain vistas each year.
Len Boone and Steve Musselwhite, the developers, will meet with two architects and officials from the parkway and from Roanoke County for three days to find common ground on development plans that are profitable and visually in keeping with the parkway's views.
``We hope it will then make it possible for these properties to become a model for developing properties all along the parkway,'' said Jim Olin, former congressman. Olin is co-chairman of the Coalition for the Blue Ridge Parkway, a two-state nonprofit organization that seeks to preserve views along the 470-mile highway in Virginia and North Carolina.
The public is invited to an information meeting scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Vinton War Memorial. Carlton Abbott, whose father, Stanley, was one of the chief planners for the parkway and its first superintendent, will talk about ways to plan developments and design houses to preserve the parkway's views. Roanoke landscape architect David Hill also will be involved.
The ensuing workshop is closed to the public, Olin said. Boone, Musselwhite and the county are sharing the expenses, he said.
``Yes, yes, it's a very good sign,'' Olin said of the workshop. ``There's a very good understanding between all the parties,'' although the details - such as whether the developers are obligated to stick to any design plans the group comes up with - are yet to be worked out.
The group will use two parcels as ``guinea pigs'' to plan developments that are mutually acceptable. Boone owns one piece, called ``the bowl'' - a gently sloping field east of the parkway. Musselwhite has another, 40 acres, under option.
Both developers are seeking easements from the parkway to build utility lines to their land. Musselwhite said his willingness to work with the parkway, and his offer to use his parcel for the workshop, likely would increase his chances for getting an easement.
``It's my understanding that that's the whole reason,'' he said. Although zoning would allow him to build 100 homes, he plans to build half that, ``which should please the parkway,'' he said.
Like Olin, Musselwhite is encouraged that all the parties are working together to allow growth but protect the parkway's views.
For years, developers and parkway officials have clashed, sometimes not at all quietly. In 1991, Boone revealed plans to develop one of the last large, open areas in the Roanoke Valley along the scenic highway, tripping a wire of public alarm.
Since then, parkway officials, preservationists and local government officials have sought answers on how to handle development pressure along the skinny national park.
Olin said that he would give the public a ``progress report'' at the close of the workshop, although he said the participants might not have completed their work or hammered out all the details.
Musselwhite said it probably would be 1996 before he started building.
by CNB