ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
Residents of the Reservoir Road area in Botetourt County packed Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting and persuaded the board to make the rare move of ignoring a Planning Commission recommendation on a rezoning request.
The board voted 4-0, with Fincastle Supervisor Bonnie Mayo absent, to reject a request to rezone a 2.85-acre lot on Reservoir Road. Hollins Communications Research Institute, a speech therapy center currently located on Williamson Road near Hollins College, had wanted to build a 10,000-square-foot building on the site.
But the supervisors were swayed by the arguments of residents who said putting a business of any kind in an entirely residential area was the wrong thing to do. The Planning Commission had voted 3-0, with two members absent, in favor of the rezoning.
In other action, the board approved the rezoning of 33.6 acres to industrial use, making the way for Phase III of the county's EastPark Commerce Center. With the business park currently full, the county's purchase of two separate lots at a total of about $500,000 adds two lots to the park.
The land already has utilities waiting, and fronts on Alternate U.S. 220, making it "the finest piece property in EastPark," according to County Administrator Jerry Burgess.
The board also approved the reassignment of the county's cable television franchise to TW-Fanch-One Co., which recently acquired Tele-Media Co. Tele-Media, which has about 9,000 customers in Botetourt and a smaller number in Bedford County, is selling all but one of its cable operations in Virginia and North Carolina.
Burgess said the change likely means enhanced cable service for Botetourt customers, since the new company has a reputation for quick upgrades in its new franchises.
The board passed on the request for reassignment of the franchise in March, until it could be determined how the change would affect a rate case pending against Tele-Media before the Federal Communications Commission. The county has claimed Tele-Media overcharged its customers $93,000 for basic cable television service from September 1993 to May 1994.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB