Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170041
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
David Harman wants the proposed Heritage Place neighborhood off Mud Pike outside Christiansburg to be "a more land-friendly type of development," said Jack Ellinwood, an engineer with a Roanoke firm.
The Montgomery County Planning Commission liked what it heard. It approved a final plan for the first two phases of the development.
Heritage Place was to have included 231 lots on 300 acres of rolling pasture between Mud Pike and U.S. 11. Harman has reduced the plan to 200 acres, with access from Mud Pike only.
The first two phases include 58 lots instead of 69. Harman expects to begin work on the first phase this spring. "He's taking his time to make sure he's doing it right," Ellinwood said.
In revising the plan, Harman tried to better match the subdivision's layout with the rolling contours of the land, Ellinwood said. The development also will have one spring-fed lake instead of two.
The proposed subdivision became the focus of a debate a year ago over guiding suburban growth in Montgomery. Some officials argued that the county should have forced Harman to chip in toward the cost of extending a sewer line to such a potentially large development. But others contended that was an expensive, unfair burden that would only place lot prices out of the reach of most would-be homebuyers.
It's a debate that's still alive.
Ultimately, though, the county approved the Heritage Place subdivision and rezoned 96 acres for the first portion from agricultural to residential use. The development will be served with public water, supplied from Christiansburg, but will rely on individual septic systems for each lot.
by CNB