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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995                   TAG: 9504250115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY   
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

MONTGOMERY SAYS NO TO SAWMILL

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors sided, 6-0, with the neighbors and its Planning Commission to deny the permit requested by Bob and Rob Styne of S&S Farms Inc.

The board also decided, 4-2, that the sawmill would be incompatible with the special agricultural district where the land is located. Supervisor Joe Stewart of Elliston skipped both votes because he is friends with the Stynes.

Childress Estates residents won the day, but there may be other changes in the wind. A pig farm or a cattle feedlot may be considered for the 145 acres near the subdivision within the next year, a lawyer for S&S Farms said.

"We've got to put it to some use," said Radford lawyer Kendall Clay.

Such uses would not require a special county permit, said county Planning Director Joe Powers, because the land is zoned agricultural and the General Assembly last year removed local governments' ability to regulate agricultural uses through such permits.

Homeowners in Childress Estates, a 2-year-old rural subdivision, protested the sawmill because of fears of heavy logging trucks, dust and noise. Shala Davis, who lives near the subdivision and helped organize opponents, said the issue was one of safety, not emotions.

She said the possibility of a pig farm or feedlot may have more to do with the Stynes' frustrations. The land, off Piney Woods Road near Childress, is used for cattle grazing now.

The Board of Supervisors' decision means a Riner-area business with 18 employees may be leaving the county after nine years on Fairview Church Road.

Clay said the Stynes are considering properties in Pulaski and Giles counties for their business. It has an economic impact of $750,000 a year and that would have doubled with the expansion, Clay said, as would the number of jobs.

The Board of Supervisors sided with protesting neighbors on another touchy land-use issue Monday. The board rejected a rezoning request by Hough-Nichols Inc. for 22 acres beside Bethel Woods subdivision near Radford.

Neighbors feared rezoning to R-3 would allow the development of a subdivision of mobile homes. The board directed the county staff to prepare a rezoning to R-2, which would prohibit trailers.