Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140031
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Armed with photos of flooding and a 4-foot by 8-foot chart, more than a dozen residents of the Southwest Roanoke community off Deyerle Road showed up at a City Council meeting on Monday to protest a proposed subdivision on an old horse farm.
They argued the development will worsen already serious storm water flooding problems
At issue is Cravens Creek Lane, an 11-home development planned for just more than 4 acres fronting Craven's Creek Road.
Custom-home builder Clark Crawley has submitted development plans for the subdivision where houses will cost upwards of $200,000 each.
The community lies along Cravens Creek, a small ditch at the bottom of a low lying basin that is almost dry - save when it rains. Then, even light rainfall can cause it to swell over its banks and into yards. Heavy rainfalls like last June can leave some residents trapped in their homes.
Crawley's subdivision plan is being reviewed by city staffers, who under state law have 45 days to grant an OK providing the plan conforms to city development regulations. Although the proposal fits zoning for the area, residents asked council if there isn't some way the development could be barred.
"We're getting huge amounts of water - more in the last two years than ever," Cravens Creek Road resident Jo Wilson told council. "We really can't afford one more drop of water in that stream."
Fred Anderson, another Craven's Creek Road resident, said storm water from development in the neighborhood and on some higher ground nearby - some of it in Roanoke County - has left the creek silted in and clogged with debris that the city has neglected to clear out.
"We're seeing 100-year floods, about four of them in the last five years," Anderson said.
Homeowner Jonathan Rogers predicted the new development would be "the straw that breaks the camel's back.
"There's no way this is not going to cause more runoff," Rogers argued. "[Crawley's] going to worsen it and he's going to go off, and we're going to be stuck with the problem."
Part of the hearing focused on the city's "zero drainage policy." Residents questioned its effectiveness, given that flooding has worsened with each new development nearby.
City Manager Bob Herbert said the policy is designed not to halt all drainage from a new development, but rather to allow a level of storm water that is equivalent to what would be produced if a property remained undeveloped.
John Marlles, chief of city planning, said Crawley is permitted to develop the property "as a matter of right" under state law. And, he said, the problem is not limited to Cravens Creek Road. The city is currently reviewing its development guidelines, the first wholesale re-write in the past 20 years, he added.
"We're at the bottom of a larger watershed," Marlles said. "Development is occurring around the city of Roanoke, and we're at the bottom of the well."
Marlles also said a regional storm water management plan is being formulated by the Fifth Planning District Commission. In the meantime, though, state law doesn't allow for moratoriums on building, he said.
Crawley told council that he and his wife plan to live in the new subdivision.
But he added that he believes residents are trying to make him a "scapegoat" for years of development in the area that he's played no part in.
"We end up being the whipping boy for the whole neighborhood," Crawley said.
He noted that the development follows all applicable subdivision guidelines now on the city books, and he's trying to build the type of moderate- to high-priced housing the city is encouraging.
"We work through the city to meet city and state guidelines on storm water management. That's all we can do," he said.
But Councilwoman Linda Wyatt wasn't buying the argument.
"The more I hear that and look at the problems, the more I think we need to upgrade these codes to force people like you to comply," Wyatt said. "I'm hearing that we need to change the rules."
by CNB