ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120045
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: A CUPPA JOE
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
An all-star lineup turned out at Ridgewood Baptist Church in Northwest Roanoke on Monday night to hear residents complain about a construction site on nearby Autumn Lane.
Four Roanoke City Council members, the city manager, director of public works, planning director, an assistant commonwealth's attorney and assorted city staffers heard the details from more than two dozen people.
But the headliner, contractor Phillip Bane, did not appear.
"I don't see any reason to," he told me Saturday afternoon on his porch on Wayne Street in Northeast Roanoke. "It's going to be a personal attack. ... Let's be adults."
Without Bane, those gathered Monday could only talk about things that Bane could have explained, apologized for or promised to fix.
Things like those dump trucks full of fill that turned up Saturday morning, despite a stop-work order from the city. They drew a half-dozen angry residents, a city inspector and a police car to send the trucks away.
Things like the inadequate silt fence, sediment pits that have held water and could create a danger for curious children - even the failure to sweep the street at the end of the day, so neighborhood kids could play.
A novice developer
For about 16 months, Bane, 30, has been preparing the site for 11 three-bedroom homes, just about the first new construction he has tried after several years of remodeling and renovating.
He has cleared 2.75 acres of brush and woods, an unpopular but legal act, but he has violated city regulations numerous times, to the point of being fined in General District Court after the city filed charges.
Some of the residents' complaints - about dust, noise and such - are unavoidable. Others could easily be rectified, but instead have turned into chronic irritants.
"Mr. Bane is simply inexperienced and does not really know how to go about this whole project," said Eric Branscom, the assistant commonwealth's attorney. "That's just what it looks like to me."
Tuesday, Branscom added, "He just does not seem to be handling the details." Sweeping the street "would have gone miles," he said, to make people happy. Instead, it's another shell for their cannon.
Fed up, the residents hammered - and pleaded with - the officials.
"He's a repeat offender, and we're not getting anywhere with it," said Celine Butler, who lives across from the job site.
Bane's performance has been exceptionally poor, officials said. They can't be there all the time.
New law would ticket violators
For Bane, the project is "on-the-job training," said John Marlles, the city planning director. The city is hurrying to draw an ordinance that would allow its inspectors to write tickets for violations as they occur, rather than use the current system of deadlines and court proceedings.
On Saturday, Bane denied many of the residents' charges about illegal dumping, the alleged presence of raw sewage and erosion.
He said residents had insulted and implicitly threatened him. They simply don't want houses built, he said. And he said that a stronger ordinance would be a needless disincentive to builders. "You want to provide people an opportunity to learn," he said. "I think the government has a responsibility to educate you rather than litigate you."
Educat it will, with daily inspections, increased legal pressure and the push for a stronger ordinance.
But those are tools, not solutions, said Bob Herbert, the city manager. Problems may well continue.
It's all up to the headliner.
What's your story? Call me at 981-3256, send e-mail to joek@roaoke.com or write to P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
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