ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 18, 1996 TAG: 9612180061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors approved an amended county zoning ordinance Tuesday that bans billboards, despite pleas from a loose confederacy of outdoor advertising business owners.
"The request I've heard more than any other regarding signs is that we ban billboards," County Administrator Jerry Burgess told the board.
The roughly 80 billboards already in Botetourt will be allowed to stay, unless they are damaged or fall into disrepair beyond half their value.
A group of men representing six companies that have billboards in Botetourt called the ban "drastic" and urged supervisors to table the amendment until it could be examined further. But the amendment passed, 3-1, with one member abstaining.
At least two supervisors expressed an interest in talking further with the billboard companies and possibly altering the ban later, but a spokesman for the companies called the battle a loss for now.
"This is how these men have fed themselves, and now it's just being snatched away from them," said Keith Austin, a spokesman for Lamar Advertising, which operates in 17 states. "And we were never consulted."
Austin praised Botetourt's scenic beauty and acknowledged the importance of protecting it, but still lamented the board's decision.
"When you ban something, it's hard to go back," he said.
At their Tuesday meeting, supervisors also decided to clarify the definition of "group home" in the zoning ordinance to exclude "drug or alcohol rehabilitation centers, halfway houses and similar uses."
Several residents in Cloverdale, led by Cloverdale Community Civic League board member Bud Brummit, had raised concerns that the definition as it was originally written left open the possibility of drug treatment halfway houses.
As it was approved Tuesday, the ordinance allows a state-licensed agency to set up a group home in any agricultural or residential area and house up to eight "mentally ill, mentally retarded or developmentally disabled" persons in it. No special permit or rezoning from the county is required.
County Attorney Buck Heartwell advised the board it had little room to move regarding group homes. The county is merely falling in line with state law, he said.
Previously, a group home in Botetourt was limited to three people and required a public hearing and a special permit.
Brummit also earned a concession regarding an amendment limiting building heights to 45 feet, which for years has allowed the zoning administrator to grant exceptions without consulting the Planning Commission. Anyone seeking a variance from the ordinance will have to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals.
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