
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995                   TAG: 9501270037
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NATURE'S PIE

MONTGOMERY County supervisors' ignoble vote to rezone forestland on an undeveloped stretch of U.S. 460 for a service station/convenience store/used-car and farm-equipment sales lot is regrettable for a couple of reasons.

There is the impact the multiple uses listed above will have on a stunning stretch of countryside giving pleasure to residents and showcasing the county's rural beauty for folks just visiting.

Assurances from developer Radford Price's lawyer that the incursion into what is now pristine forest will enhance the rural character of the area do not reassure. Certainly farm equipment and fuel pumps are necessary to operating farms and are part of rural life. But 12 acres of pavement with these sitting on it can be no one's idea of a visual treasure.

The far more significant regret is that the 5-2 split on the Board of Supervisors suggests a failure to grasp the need for big-picture planning - planning that can help guide growth to develop the kind of Montgomery County people will want to live in and work in 20 or 50 years from now.

Zoning is one means of conserving resources and protecting community interests where they conflict with individual desires. In a nation that cherishes individual freedoms, the wider community must have a compelling interest to prevail. But if zoning is too easily circumvented, the protections it offers to property values and to neighbors and others affected by land use are but an illusion.

This strip of privately held land sits amid a national forest at a pristine gateway to the county. The owner needed to get it rezoned to develop it. The county's comprehensive plan did not allow for it. The county's planning commission recommended against it. The board of supervisors overruled, thus devaluing, their plan and commission.

In the past, Montgomery County supervisors had stuck with the plan when it came to this property. The board that changed with the elections in 1991 of Nick Rush and Larry Linkous appears to have a different vision. Montgomery doesn't have to wait for the future to see what that looks like.

by CNB