ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 6, 1996 series: Last of three parts TAG: 9608060055
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
IMAGINE A short list of the Roanoke area's distinctive assets, natural or man-made, whose preservation warrants special and sustained attention.
Most people's list would include Roanoke's rail heritage and the City Market area. Also, without trying to be exhaustive: Mill Mountain, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Catawba Valley, Salem's Main Street, the ridges surrounding the valley, etc.
Fincastle belongs on this list. Indeed, the historic town's fate may rest on broader recognition of its worth to the region. But even such appreciation, by itself, isn't enough. To preserve a special place, we'll have to act.
Once the government center of a county stretching to the Mississippi River, now a charming country village, Fincastle is a state historic district. But formal protections are surprisingly few.
Its Town Council has rejected past efforts to establish historic-district zoning, which can regulate the look of new or renovated buildings. The town's state designation, like its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, does nothing to provide this type of protection.
Moreover, because Fincastle sits on only 90 acres, the handsome hillsides that provide its perfect, Early-American backdrop lie in fast-growing Botetourt County, outside the town's control.
Fortunately, a lot of people in both the town and county want to sustain Fincastle's fragile heritage. Community support is the strongest preservation tool; without it, nothing else will work.
In this case, such support is cultivated by Historic Fincastle Inc., a group that has labored over the years to restore historic buildings and to secure covenants guaranteeing that exteriors won't be changed. While only a few properties have deed restrictions, many more have been restored because property owners, made aware of the architectural significance of Fincastle's older buildings, wanted to save them.
With that sense of shared values, and with few undeveloped lots left in town, preservationists are worried more about threats to Fincastle's historic character from outside its borders than from within.
Botetourt County officials suggest growth-anxiety is overwrought, especially around Fincastle, where the surrounding countryside is still far from the infrastructure needed to support dense development. But less dense subdivision of farmland doesn't have to await water and sewer-line extensions.
The county planner observes that any project in the area that comes before the Planning Commission is looked at first in terms of effects on the town's historic ambience. But good intentions not backed up by formal protections could erode in coming years as growth brings the county new opportunities, new pressures, and many new residents - not all of whom will care how suburbanization affects their county seat.
Like much of the region, Botetourt is richer in natural beauty than in means to safeguard its beauty for future generations.
To help protect its past, Fincastle should enact a historic-district zoning ordinance. These can be as flexible and unrestrictive as the community wants, and still protect against outright abominations. Help with developing a workable ordinance is available from the regional office of the state Historic Resources Department.
To protect the surrounding view-
scape and preserve a buffer zone against incompatible development, the town could expand its boundaries, as Buchanan recently did. Another option: Promote scenic easements. Efforts are under way to create a Roanoke Valley land trust that could hold - or perhaps buy - easements to protect special places in perpetuity.
The full array of resources needed to preserve a town's distinctive character are, in any case, beyond the town's ability to provide. All of which suggests our region needs to develop two things, and not just for Fincastle's sake: (1) an area-wide comprehensive land-use plan that promotes clustered growth while guarding regional assets; (2) a shared political will to follow the plan.
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