ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 26, 1996 TAG: 9603260087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
NOT EVERYONE has embraced Habitat for Humanity's plans to build affordable homes for the working poor in an area once called one of Southwest Roanoke's worst eyesores.
Three years ago, Bob Zimmerman bought a piece of property in west Roanoke County.
It was for safekeeping, his "ace in the hole" if he ever felt his business - Roanoke Electric Zupply - was being restrained by regulation or development. He would simply move from the city to the county.
If Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley is allowed to build a proposed 20-home community near Zimmerman's business in the 900 block of Salem Avenue in Southwest Roanoke, he's prepared to dismantle his 14,000-square-foot "steel stand" building and reconstruct it on his county property.
Zimmerman says he is that much opposed to Habitat's plans. He's not alone, although there also is support within the neighborhood's business community for the housing development.
The chunk of property where Habitat wants to build in Roanoke's West End neighborhood is zoned for light manufacturing use. One side of the property - between Norfolk and Jackson avenues and 10th and 11th streets - looks out over a Norfolk Southern rail yard. The hum of trains rolling over tracks and the sight of multicolored box cars are constant.
The property must be rezoned for residential use before Habitat can build. Zimmerman said he intends to fight the rezoning.
Roanoke "needs more land for industrial use," he said. "There are so many vacant lots in the city that can be used for [Habitat homes] instead of taking property zoned for light manufacturing.
"I'm not against Habitat. I'm against Habitat and against the system taking away from the growth of the city."
The city planning staff says otherwise. After several years of studying the area where Habitat plans to build, as well as neighboring property, the staff is recommending that it be rezoned for residential use, said John Marlles, Roanoke's chief of community planning.
Existing housing in the area does not conform to a light manufacturing use, he said. Many of the houses there were built prior to the area's rezoning to light manufacturing in the mid-60s, Marlles said.
"At the time that zoning was put in place, suburbanization was really at its peak," he said. "People did not believe that inner-city neighborhoods were viable for residential purposes any longer. Roanoke was not unique. A lot of property was rezoned light manufacturing or high-density multifamily use."
But the light manufacturing zoning now restricts what people can do to improve those homes, many of which are deteriorating. A house in disrepair in the area cannot be upgraded without a rezoning permit. And the zoning restricts new home construction on the property.
"We felt that area would be better served by having a residential-zoning category as opposed to industrial," Marlles said. "The staff does feel that the proposed Habitat development already has, by clearing of the dilapidated structures, made a positive impact for that area - eliminating a major eyesore."
"The planning staff does not believe that area is valuable for industrial purposes," Marlles said.
Where the city may see no value, Bob Zimmerman envisions an industrial park, or one or two businesses employing 10 or more people, he said.
"We're taking more than we're giving, depleting something that is more valuable than anything we've got," he said.
Habitat already has purchased and begun clearing a portion of the property it wants to develop - a site with 10 small shotgun-style houses that was owned by well-known renovator Ren Heard. The purchase was financed with money, called HOME funding, that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets aside for housing for low- to moderate-income people. Habitat used $90,000 of the city's 1995-96 HOME allocation to buy the property.
Habitat has applied for $195,000 of Roanoke's 1996-97 HOME allocation to buy the rest of the property needed for the 20-home community. That property is owned by a dozen or so different people, said David Camper, president of Habitat's board of directors.
Zimmerman said he is looking into purchasing some of that property himself, a move that would put a huge snag in Habitat's plans.
"I'm opposed to stopping the growth of our city," he said. "I'm not going to let anyone box me in."
The property is within Roanoke's enterprise zone - a state program that provides state and local tax breaks for new and expanding industries. Very little of the city's enterprise zone is residential, said Doug Chittum, an economic development specialist with the city.
Industrial property generates more revenue than residential property, Chittum said. For that reason, some people, such as Zimmerman, want to preserve every inch of the city's industrial-zone property, he said.
In fact, the city once considered the area where Habitat wants to build as a possible site for an industrial park, Chittum said. The subject was shelved but surfaced again when Habitat's proposal was being discussed.
Different city departments came to the discussion with varying views.
"Planning had one opinion, economic development had one opinion, public safety had one opinion," Chittum said. "All these thoughts were rolled into one city opinion. And it was the view of the city that the proposal given by Habitat was appropriate for the neighborhood and something the city would support."
Chittum declined to say which way he leaned. But he noted: "Is it going to produce the most revenue to the city? No, it's not. Will it fulfill a need in the community? Yes it will, for affordable housing.
"You will have many people for whom every issue is not a dollar-and-cents issue. And you'll have hard-line industrial types who say central cities are suffering and need revenue sources and must turn to the best sources of generating revenue."
"I'm convinced an industrial park can stabilize a neighborhood just as much as residential can stabilize a neighborhood," he added.
John Leftwich owns property close to where Habitat plans to build - a vacant lot in the 900 block of Norfolk Avenue and another site at 10th Street and Rorer Avenue. Leftwich said he bought the property about eight years ago with industrial development in mind.
"I thought it was going to stay that way," he said. "If I'd have known they were going to build housing, I'd have never moved up there."
The Habitat property rezoning is expected to go before the Planning Commission in May, Marlles said.
Leftwich said he intends to oppose it.
"The city needs that kind of tax base. We need property with [light manufacturing] zoning close to the downtown business area," he said. "It's also easy to access the interstate from there."
Habitat does not intend to sway from its plans.
"I don't know why anybody would want to have it light manufacturing," Camper said. "If you look around here, it's been residential forever."
Some owners of businesses near the property support Habitat's plans.
"I don't see any negatives at all in that," said David Stanfill, manager of customer service for Graybar Electric Co. "It'll be good to have this neighborhood improved in any way possible. This neighborhood needs good housing."
Graybar has been in the 1100 block of Salem Avenue since 1959, Stanfill said. Back in 1988, the company pondered renovating the building or moving to a new building.
"We decided to renovate basically because of all the competition close to downtown," he said. "It's just a very good location for us."
There are some negatives - drug problems, vandalism, the occasional ammunition casing in the parking lot, Stanfill said.
"If we'd pressed it, we'd have been somewhere else, but we like it right here just fine," he said. "Anything that could help the neighborhood get residential areas improved and home ownership really helps.
"Business and residential can work together in this neighborhood."
LENGTH: Long : 141 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Amy Moore, Habitat for Humanity'sby CNBexecutive director, and David Camper, president of the board of
directors, want to build homes between
Jackson Street and Norfolk Avenue. color. Map.