ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230096
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
The Price Mountain development proposal cleared its first hurdle Wednesday.
The Montgomery County Planning Commission recommended William Price's 538-acre residential rezoning request for a public hearing.
The county Board of Supervisors will take up the recommendation Monday. If it agrees, the board likely would set a March 25 public hearing.
The proposal is one of the largest rezoning requests in county history, and would have long-range effects on roads, utilities, schools and the look of the dominant ridge that divides Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Price is seeking zonings that would allow for one-third acre lots on the Christiansburg side of the mountain, and a combination of half-acre single-family homes and more densely developed duplexes on the Blacksburg side. Price said he would seek to develop the 250-acre Christiansburg side first.
The Planning Commission also set into motion a separate but related 173-acre rezoning request for a narrow strip - surrounded by Price's land - atop Price Mountain. The county has initiated that rezoning for residents of homes along Oilwell Road, which follows the ridgeline.
The residents, organized as the Price Mountain Road Association, requested the change from agricultural to residential zoning in the wake of Price's request.
Tom Herrmann, an association member, said residents "feel positive" about further development of the mountain, but don't understand the need to rezone the northern, or Blacksburg, side given that public water and sewer connections are far off in the future. The residents, who are responsible for maintaining nearly a mile of Oilwell Road leading up to a series of communications towers, also are concerned with plans to rely on the road for primary access to the proposed new development.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB