ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
Roanoke County staff told Glenvar residents Wednesday night that the county will continue to consider a 456-acre farm as a potential industrial site, despite strong opposition from area homeowners.
And they asked the residents to work with them through the process.
But some property owners who live adjacent to the farm say they may take legal action to keep more industrial sites out of their end of the county.
"They're not going to listen to us at all," said Glenvar Heights resident Sue Williams. "They feel like we're going to be the industrial end of the county.
"I don't want to live next to an industrial park."
Charles Landis, whose property abuts the farm off Glenvar Heights Boulevard, has led much of the opposition to the rezoning.
"What this is going to force us to do is use our resources to retain legal counsel to defend" the property owners' rights, Landis said.
Landis said the residents near the proposed industrial site are in that process now.
Three weeks ago, the county announced its biggest industrial deal ever - landing an R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. book plant in Valley TechPark.
The night of the announcement, more than 200 Glenvar residents showed up at a meeting with the county over more potential industrial development - including the 456-acre farm that is within a mile of Valley TechPark.
They said that they were sick of getting all of the county's industrial development in their end of the county.
But Economic Development Director Tim Gubala said that for the county to compete in the future for other industrial development like R.R. Donnelley, it will have to reserve sites large enough to accommodate them.
The farm, owned by Salem businessman Glenn Thornhill Jr., is one of those potential sites. The farm is zoned residential with agricultural uses permitted. The Industrial Development Authority wants to rezone it to industrial.
County Administrator Elmer Hodge and Catawba Supervisor Spike Harrison asked the residents Wednesday to work with the county toward a mutually agreeable plan.
Both men said they shared the residents' concerns with the Board of Supervisors at its regular meeting last week.
During a closed session, the board decided to continue pursuing the farm and two smaller sites - one near Campbell Hills and several small tracts near Hanging Rock. Those two sites have been less contentious.
The board dropped two other sites in West County from the potential rezoning list - one off West River Road and another near Wildwood Road and Interstate 81.
During Wednesday night's meeting, at the new Spring Hollow water treatment plant, county staff addressed several other concerns that West County residents raised at the Feb. 21 meeting.
Among those concerns was the condition of U.S. 11/460, which has about a 1.9-mile stretch of two-lane road between the Dixie Caverns and Wildwood Road exits from Interstate 81.
The Virginia Department of Transportation's Salem District administrator, Fred Altizer, said the county has consistently requested that the road be improved. But because of lack of funding, the request never made it past the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Altizer suggested the residents participate in VDOT's public hearing for primary road projects in the Salem District. The public hearing will be April 2 at the Salem Civic Center.
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