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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995                   TAG: 9511150019
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SPACE PRESERVATION HAS BEEN AIM OF TOMS CREEK BASIN PLANNING

To ensure that the area's largest remaining tract of land does not become a congested subdivision, the town has worked for two years to develop an amendment to its zoning ordinance. The amendment, which is now in the hands of the Planning Commission, is meant to emphasize open space in the six-mile Toms Creek Basin and maintain the area's agricultural feel.

Tuesday night, Town Council formally passed the amendment on to the Planning Commission for evaluation.

The vote begins another round of public hearings, subcommittee meetings and ultimately a Town Council vote.

Main points of the zoning amendment include:

Clustering houses to preserve open space.

Limiting the number of commercial businesses to those that would serve people in Toms Creek.

Surrounding Toms Creek with a central greenway, which would be public with large pastures and vegetation.

By the year 2046, Blacksburg's population is estimated to grow by 23,719 people, or 10,313 households. Toms Creek, in northwest Blacksburg, would accommodate 34 percent of that growth, according to the town's target population estimates.

Without zoning changes, the possible development of Toms Creek Basin can be glimpsed in the diagram that is kept in the town's planning office.

In a maze of what officials call "cookie-cutter" housing, Toms Creek would look like a typical suburb. Adele Schirmer, planning and engineering director, uses this map to illustrate why a change to the town's zoning ordinance is needed.

"This was not what was desired for the long-range plan for Toms Creek," Schirmer said as she pointed to the diagram during a recent presentation to Town Council. "What's desired at Toms Creek is a rural or agricultural area."

The amendment creates three zoning classifications: Rural Residential, Rural Residential II and the Creek Valley Overlay District.

A large part of Toms Creek would fall under the Rural Residential zone, which allows one housing unit per acre with 50 percent of the property designated for open space. The zoning would cover the land bounded on the east by the U.S. 460 bypass and on the south by Prices Fork Road.

The Planning Commission will consider the rezoning of this area in a separate amendment.

The second type of zoning, Rural Residential II, would allow property owners in Toms Creek Basin to transfer development rights to the town to preserve open space, farm land and forests. A special commission would set up qualifications for such a transfer and advise the Town Council on which properties would be appropriate for this type of zoning.

The Creek Valley Overlay District, the final zoning classification, would identify lands adjacent to a 100-year floodplain that are important to water quality protection. Development in these areas would be restricted.

One of the biggest changes in the zoning amendment is an open space requirement. As dictated by the current ordinance, only one housing unit is allowed per acre. Changes to the ordinance would require 50 percent of the land be reserved for open space.

"Landowners get the same amount of new units, they just have to be clustered to conserve open space," Schirmer said.

There are some outstanding issues that need to be addressed. During a work session last month, several council members expressed concern that commercial development was too limited in the plan. Others were concerned that people would expect public services for shared private driveways included in the Rural Residential zone.

"The proposal is pretty well hammered out," Schirmer said. "Some of the areas that will continue to be refined are what commercial uses are allowed and how much of them. Right now they're very limited, which is consistent with the current zoning out there."

Public hearings have been held throughout the two-year process of putting the Toms Creek plan together, a strategy that will continue. If all goes according to plan, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Feb. 6, and the Town Council will schedule another one Feb. 13.