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

DATE: SATURDAY, March 25, 1995                   TAG: 9503270003
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COMMUNITY MEETING TO ADDRESS `VISIONING'

Roanoke County is gearing up for the next phase of its $40,000 effort to find out what residents want their community to be like in the next 20 years.

A community meeting will be held April 1 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at Cave Spring High School, 3712 Chaparral Drive S.W.

The meeting will focus on where the county is now and what problems need to be addressed, senior planner Janet Scheid said, and the staff is hoping residents will become involved in the process.

"The goal is to move as quickly as we can into the part where the staff is doing the listening and the people are doing the talking," Scheid said.

Many of the activities will be interactive. Throughout the morning, for example, residents will be invited to mark special places in the county on a huge road map, which will be placed on the floor. In addition, the meeting's facilitators will ask participants to indicate other sites where there are problems, such as traffic congestion and a need for road repairs.

The morning's agenda includes a brief presentation of the results of a 10-day telephone survey of 500 county residents. Participants also will have the chance to browse through graphics highlighting the county's employment situation, demographics, resource protection efforts, cultural opportunities and other issues.

Near the end of the session, the large group will break into focus groups to begin studying specific issues, such as resource protection, housing, economic development and transportation.

The "visioning" process runs through July and will be overseen by a steering committee of community leaders from civic leagues, local organizations and cultural groups. Citizen input is being encouraged throughout the five-month process. A second community meeting will be held in early June to receive reports from the task forces.

The 15 steering committee members, many of whom reside in Southwest County, were chosen because they represent a wide variety of community interests and issues. The committee also includes two city residents: Rupert Cutler, director of Explore Park, and city Planning Commissioner Barbara Duerk.

"There is a great deal of interest on the steering committee in getting input from Salem, Vinton and the city," Scheid said. "There is a recognition that we are all one valley."

The Roanoke County Planning Commission will use the steering committee's final report in July to begin updating the comprehensive plan, a detailed study that outlines Roanoke County's plans for growth, resource protection and other zoning and management issues. The state requires localities to update their comprehensive plans every five years.

Light refreshments will be served at Saturday's session, and free baby-sitting will be provided by county employees who are licensed in child care.

by CNB