Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 9, 1995 TAG: 9505100005
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After more than two hours of debate, they left angry. By a 7-0 vote, council approved a rezoning that allows the plant to move forward.
``You want to buy a house?'' Springtree resident Don Hannon shouted immediately after the vote. Outside council chambers, he said, ``I don't want to live in the back of an asphalt plant.''
The applicant is Branch Highways, a major Roanoke Valley road contractor and one of the biggest highway contractors in the country.
Branch intends to build a $2.5 million, 1,200-tons-daily asphalt plant on 11.7 acres adjacent to Statesman Industrial Park. The land is behind the McDonald's restaurant on the north side of Orange Avenue near its intersection with King Street.
Until last night, the land was zoned for light industry, a designation that doesn't allow for production of the road-paving material. Council's unanimous vote rezoned the property for heavy industry, which allows for asphalt manufacture.
``It's emotion vs. being educated,'' City Councilman Mac McCadden said after the hearing. ``I don't think enough of [the opponents] are educated enough about the plant to render a judgment that is based on fact rather than on heart.''
Before Monday night, Branch's application was debated at two hearings of the Roanoke City Planning Commission, which voted 6-0 last week to approve it. Many of the arguments for and against the plant were voiced at those hearings.
The closest homes to the site are 1,600 feet away in Springtree, and the plant will be about 500 yards from a busy day-care center.
Don Wetherington, a zoning attorney representing Branch, noted that development of the vacant parcel will pay the city about $210,000 annually in taxes. It will employ as many as 32 people, counting workers on- and off-site, he said.
The company has tried repeatedly to mollify residents' fears about noise, pollution, traffic and fire hazards, he said.
The plant will be screened by a 20-foot-tall earth berm and surrounded by trees, and will be nearly invisible from Orange Avenue. The manufacturing process would be enclosed in a steel drum so that no vapors or smoke would be emitted, he said.
About 200 trucks traveling to and from the plant at peak usage will enter through Statesman Park, rather than more directly off Orange Avenue.
``It usually falls to my duty to minimize any concerns presented. Let me tell you, that we have done. We cannot find a legitimate issue of concern to anyone,'' he said.
Council also heard from Richard Jones, vice chairman of the Planning Commission, and John Marlles, director of Community Planning for the city. Both told council that they visited a similar operation in Fairfax that has little impact on residents and businesses.
But opponents didn't want to hear it.
``Northeast Roanoke neighborhoods, they don't want any asphalt plant near them,'' said Obediah Overstreet, who lives on King Street. ``That's got a bad ring to it. ... I was following an asphalt truck on the road today. And he was about to stink me to death.''
Paul Smith told council members that residents won't forget the vote.
``If, as Branch says, this doesn't stink, well, we'll probably be able to smell it from the fire station - next time we cast our ballots,'' he said.
Richard Avenue resident Virginia Rhodes said the plant would look ugly from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
After the hearing, one of the opponents' leaders, Jim Phillips, noted that council turned down a rezoning and a street closure sought Monday by Berglund Chevrolet on Williamson Road. Nobody testified in opposition to those.
``It's pretty inconceivable to me that they didn't have a single voice of opposition on the other two issues, and they turned them down. Yet on this there's a public outcry, and they voted for it,'' Phillips said.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles said those issues were voted down because the car dealership is encroaching on a neighborhood.
by CNB