ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on January 29, 1997.
Agricultural zoning in Montgomery County allows two houses to be
built on 1 acre. A story in Saturday's New River Current about a Riner
rezoning proposal incorrectly reported the density allowed.
A public hearing Monday on plans to build 20 town houses in burgeoning Riner will present a long-running dilemma for Montgomery County's leaders: balancing the need for affordable housing against managing growth and conserving open space.
The Riner Group - made up of developers Carl McNeil and Randy Gardner and lumber company president John Turman - has applied for a rezoning and special-use permit to allow town houses on 3.1 acres. The property is on Five Points Road, and is about a quarter mile south of the Riner Historic District.
Monday's joint public hearing of the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission is at 7 p.m. on the third floor of the Montgomery County Courthouse.
The town houses will range in price from $85,000 to $100,000 and meet the needs of would-be homeowners who can't afford $150,000 homes, the developers said in November.
The property is adjacent to the Lawrence subdivision, which McNeil and Gardner also developed, and also to Turman's Xpress Market property, which the county rezoned for commercial use last year amid protests. It is across Virginia 8 and a short distance from Auburn High and Middle Schools and the site of the planned elementary school.
The town houses will be about a mile from a proposed 230-acre golf course and 140-home residential development.
Planning Commission member and Riner resident Kathryn Brennan is concerned about increased traffic the development will put on the narrow road. Brennan, who joined the commission in June, supports preserving the county's dwindling countryside.
Brennan and Riner resident Margaret Smith are concerned the rezoning would not be in the community's best interest.
"I'm not sure we can afford the growth we're advocating. It's really costing us almost more than we're getting back [in taxes] and it certainly is in beauty," Brennan said.
She believes that 3.1 acres is too small a space for 20 units.
But Michael Gay of Gay Engineering, the agent for the project, counters that town houses provide a win-win solution to housing needs and concerns about urban sprawl.
"There is a housing demand in Riner," Gay said. Agricultural zoning allows for houses on 2-acre lots. "Do we do 2-acre lots and eat up all the countryside or do we go into the center of town which is no longer a rural atmosphere and meet the housing needs with a smaller piece of property?" Gay asked.
Smith believes rezoning to allow town houses would go against the county's comprehensive plan and a zoning compatibility chart the Planning Commission adopted in 1991.
She is also concerned about its proximity to Riner's historic district, the preservation of which the Friends of Riner had targeted as a project before the town house proposal arose.
Zoning Administrator Jeff Scott said the county's comprehensive plan and zoning map "are written in general terms and ultimately their interpretation is up to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors and there might be some disagreement about the interpretation."
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