ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180017
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: AMSTERDAM
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
Sue Mundy loves the resonant chimes of her favorite grandfather clock.
She says she can hear them all over from the hallway at the center of her three-year old house.
But Mundy is concerned about the noise from the traffic that would be generated by a 300-home golf course development called Ashley Plantation proposed for land next to hers.
"We might have to turn it up just to hear it," she jokes as the chimes ding out five o'clock.
Mundy and her husband Jack live on three acres in the Brae Mar subdevelopment on U.S. 220. Right now, only the residents of the four houses in Brae Mar regularly use Brae Mar Drive. The 65-house first phase of Ashley Plantation would send an additional 650 cars a day up and down Brae Mar Drive, according to a traffic study conducted by the developer.
Sue Mundy says that likely means an end to her quiet daily walks - and to the view that convinced the Mundys to buy the house in the first place.
From a knoll behind the Mundy's house, all that's visible are the green, rolling hills of the former Lynn Brae Farms, now Woodhill Corp., which is owned by T.D. Steele. In early 1995, Woodhill went to bankruptcy court seeking protection from creditors during reorganization.
If Steele sells the land to developer A.R. Overbay, the cows and the view would be replaced by rows of homes on half-acre lots, the nearest home close enough for the Mundys to see in its windows.
Overbay, who also developed the Steeplechase, Hunter's Green and Laurel Mountain subdivisions in Botetourt County, said his purchase of the 422-acre farm from Steele is conditional upon the rezoning of about 190 acres. The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors tabled the rezoning request for up to 90 days at a meeting in February, but it's on Tuesday's agenda at Steele's request.
With Amsterdam District Supervisor Robert E. Layman Jr. abstaining because his family owns property adjoining Steele's, opponents need only two supervisors' votes for a tie, which would kill the project.
The Mundys and the relatively few others living around Steele's farm say they have long accepted that something would be built there. After all, most of them are living on what used to be farmland, and they say they had no problem with Overbay's initial proposal of an 18-hole golf course and some housing around it.
But the latest plan, with a minimum of 300 houses and condominiums, is nothing like what they first saw. Overbay has also approached several adjoining landowners about purchasing more property to develop.
Overbay's plans have changed so much since his first pitch that the golf course architect for the project has said he doesn't want his name associated with it.
Troutville resident B. Painter owns 68 acres of land adjoining Steele's. With the 900-acre Greenfield multi-use park probably coming right across U.S. 220, Painter says, the supervisors' decisions in coming months will have lasting effects.
"At no time have the supervisors had a better chance to set the tone for our community," he says. "What image is it that we want to put forth?"
Painter is concerned that high-density housing like Overbay intends to build will set a dangerous precedent for the area. He says Overbay's plan to put 100 condominiums on the highest, most visible part of the site is inconsistent with the careful preservation of viewsheds the county is trying to achieve with the Greenfield project.
As proposed, Greenfield will be a site shared by industry, an elementary school and a park. The county plans to locate any industrial development within the folds of the terrain, so it's hidden from the road.
Overbay says "something is going to happen to this land and I think I've got the best plan for it." He figures much of it will be filled by retirees and "empty-nesters."
"We need this kind of housing in Botetourt County," Overbay, a Botetourt resident, said. "Not everyone wants to mow five acres of yard." He said his plan provides smaller, more managable yards and plenty of attractive greenspace with the golf course. He said he's heard from several potential purchasers already.
"I'd much rather see this than a hog farm," said Harold Wilhelm, 69, a Troutville resident and former county supervisor. He said he'd gladly buy in Ashley Plantation.
"With Greenfield right there, doesn't having attractive housing and a golf course look good to potential industry?" Steele said.
But critics complain that Overbay's plans keep changing.
Overbay said he began negotiating with Steele for the land in late summer. Steele and Overbay first came before the planning commission in October to obtain a special exemption permit for the golf course. Overbay said he planned 150 to 300 homes, according to the minutes of that meeting.
Overbay now plans a minimum of 300 homes, including about 100 condominiums. The golf course, meanwhile, has moved all over the map - without the input of the architect who initially designed it.
"I've never seen such a big mess," Russell Breeden said after seeing the latest version of the course. "The golfers will play it one time and that's it."
Breeden - who has designed nearly 100 courses, including Hanging Rock in Salem - said one dogleg hole invites golfers to take the shortest route to the green over the roof of a proposed home. The tee and fairway of another hole are next to U.S. 220. Breeden said one slice sends a ball into oncoming traffic.
"If they are going to put it in like this, it shouldn't have my name on it," he said. "The project would not make it like it is. It wouldn't even pay enough to maintain the course."
Painter, who does some commercial developing, said problems like those with the golf course led him to write to the planning commission that the project "reflects a lack of sophistication commensurate with an undertaking of this size."
Botetourt County Planner Chuck Supan points out that the planning commission and supervisors approve developments based on concepts, not detailed engineering. It's up to the developer to actually build the subdivision within all government guidelines.
Supan says he never expected development as dense as Overbay plans to be built so far north on 220.
"We never imagined anyone willing to run 1.8 miles of sewer lines," he said. Without that sewer line and the private water system Overbay says he will build, he'd have to build on 1.25 acre lots to make room for septic tanks and wells.
Overbay also has plans to dig a 500-gallon per minute well for a private water system for the subdivision. That has neighboring landowners wondering if their own wells are going to dry up.
County Administrator Jerry Burgess, though, said any well of that size has to pass state health department tests to see if it undermines nearby wells. He said a well the size of the one Overbay plans to dig is usually in a much deeper water source, or aquifer, than private residence wells.
Overbay plans to reduce his well water use by irrigating the golf course in part with runoff water captured in retention ponds.
"They say being on a golf course is supposed to make your property value go up," Sue Mundy says. But she's not convinced.
Looking off toward where the seventh green would be, Mundy seems resigned to the golf course and houses coming.
"Maybe I'll set up a little lemonade stand."
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: What happens next. Map by staff. color.by CNB