ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
Opponents of the Botetourt Center at Greenfield came out Tuesday, as they have every time the proposed mixed-use park has been discussed over the past year.
But this time, defeat was in their voices.
"If I'm going to have to swallow this thing, and I believe I'm going to have to swallow it, I want to make a few points first," began David Mankin's speech during a public hearing for the rezoning of about 750 acres of the 922-acre farm.
"I feel like a man standing in a runway trying to stop a jumbo jet," Bob Bagnoli said to open his remarks.
That the land would be rezoned was such a foregone conclusion that one woman showed up to ask the county for 15 acres of it to build a theater and cultural center.
The Planning Commission and the supervisors did not surprise those who guessed they would give their approval. After a joint meeting, both panels voted to rezone the land to make way for an office park and a 500-acre business park for light and medium industry.
Also on the land, long known as the "Greenfield Plantation," will be an elementary school, a 100-acre recreation area, about five miles of greenways and several historic preservation areas.
The Planning Commission's vote was unanimous. The supervisors voted 4-0, with Fincastle Supervisor Bonnie Mayo abstaining because circumstances prevented her from thoroughly studying the 2-inch-thick rezoning request.
The arguments against Greenfield were, by and large, not new. Most hinged on an urge to preserve the quiet, rural lifestyle that attracted many of the project's opponents to the county in the first place.
"I'm reminded that the seal behind you has a haystack on it, not a smokestack," said Bagnoli, who is co-chairman with Mankin of Citizens for Responsible Land Use in Botetourt County.
But Emily Honts, in her support of the project, expressed a common sentiment among longtime residents of the county: "Every person who moves to Botetourt County wants to be the last person to move to Botetourt County, and that just is not going to happen."
Several critics of the project wanted to know what would be done to improve already congested traffic at the Interstate 81/U.S. 220 junction about four miles south of Greenfield.
County Administrator Jerry Burgess said the Virginia Department of Transportation was reviewing that situation with Greenfield in mind. But he didn't think Greenfield would contribute to the problem, since most of the traffic it would generate would move in the opposite direction of what usually clogs that interchange.
Jim Crosby, who lives about a half-mile from Greenfield, warned the supervisors not to act without a good notion of what the county's residents really want. He pointed to a petition Mankin had turned over to the board.
"You are here to represent us, yet, unless you surprise us, you are going to ignore 600 or 700 signatures and ... foist upon us this project that you don't even know how much it costs."
Crosby and others criticized the rezoning request for not including what the county's total investment would be.
After the meeting, County Administrator Jerry Burgess told reporters that current projections put the county's costs at $11 million. That includes the $4.5 million already paid for the land, plus roads, water and sewer.
Other opponents unsuccessfully argued to have the 100-foot-wide conservation easement around the property extended to create a thicker buffer between industrial buildings and nearby residents.
In the end, the only change to the project was a bow to the request of the Sons of the American Revolution to set aside a site to memorialize the Preston family, which settled the farm in the Colonial era.
Burgess said he expects construction on Greenfield to begin by the end of this year.
He said marketing of the land to industry should begin about the same time.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB