Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Northern Virginia community of Falls Church was nothing but dirt roads and board sidewalks when Dennis was young. Today, all of that has changed.
``I spent my lifetime watching rural Virginia turn into sprawl,'' said Dennis, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council. He was in town Tuesday to give a how-to lecture on preserving the natural beauty of the Roanoke Valley.
Back when Dennis was young, there wasn't much he could do about the changes he witnessed. But today there is - and he doesn't hesitate to do it.
Just ask Disney.
Dennis' group was a leader in the successful fight against the proposed Disney's America theme park in Haymarket last year.
Dennis also is waging a war on the suburban growth that is bleeding into rural areas in Northern Virginia.
It's those efforts to preserve the rural flavor of Virginia's countryside that attracted Valley Beautiful to Dennis, because many in the Roanoke Valley are struggling to do the same.
In the past year, residents have fought to preserve the scenic views along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which were being threatened by development.
``We were looking for someone with similar growth problems who might be helpful to us and show us how you preserve'' rural areas, said Lucy Ellett, president of Valley Beautiful. ``Before we're all just one big shopping center.''
However, Dennis warns that he has no quick fixes.
``I have no magic formula that you can apply,'' Dennis said. ``We do have several decades of thinking about these issues from a rural perspective.''
And he has a track record of success.
His organization has gotten 400,000 acres dedicated to forest or agricultural use for the next 10 years; 80,000 of those acres were donated through easements, which means the landscape must stay rural. He has accomplished all of this through grass-roots efforts.
``We found a way to do it without regulations, but through encouraging people to do [an easement] voluntarily,'' said Dennis, who is stepping down as president this year.
Dennis and his family did it 18 years ago.
Now, ``anyone who wants to buy my place, and does so with the secret idea of building condominiums on it, can't do that,'' said Dennis, whose property faces the Rappahannock River.
That's the kind of protection many in the Roanoke Valley are looking for, Ellett said.
Dennis will finish his two-day tour of the valley today with a Kiwanis Club luncheon.
by CNB