ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON THE ROANOKE TIMES
Roanoke County officials told residents that rezoning won't happen until they agree on a design.
Roanoke County on Tuesday restarted plans for a Glenvar industrial park that nearby residents opposed last spring.
The proposed park on the 463-acre Glenn-Mary farm is seen by county leaders as a home for businesses that will increase the tax base and provide jobs in the future. But stiff opposition from neighbors seems likely.
Nearby residents on Glenvar Heights Boulevard and Prunty Drive were furious to learn in March 1996 that county leaders were moving to rezone the farm from residential to industrial use. They predicted their quality of life and property values would decline. Officials withdrew their plan, keeping zoning the same, and put the project on hold.
At a news conference Tuesday, County Administrator Elmer Hodge announced that the project will go forward - but that residents will be consulted in advance about the rezoning.
The supervisors had not publicly discussed the plan for a year.
Hodge told reporters he had in recent weeks signed on the county's behalf for an option on the land for $15,000. After the news conference, supervisors voted to approve the option purchase after the fact. The option locks in a $2.5 million price until Aug. 31.
Supervisors also approved spending $65,000 for an expert site analysis and assistance with what Hodge called an "environmentally friendly" design for the proposed the Roanoke County Business Park.
One Glenvar resident, hoeing his yard shortly after the news conference, said he was surprised to learn how far the project appeared to have advanced behind closed doors. He thought it had been shelved last year.
"It looks like now they're going to stuff it down our throat no matter if we want it or not," said Les Siler, who lives with his wife, Jan, on Glenvar Heights Boulevard.
A neighbor up the street of large, wooded lots expressed a more middle-of-the road view.
"I don't see where it would bother us a whole lot right here," Earl Daugherty said.
If the park must be built, the Silers said, they won't be happy with anything less than 100 feet of forest between their back fence and the closest building. "When we look out our back yard, we don't want to see anything," Jan Siler said.
County officials said they hope to receive just those kinds of suggestions when they convene a series of public forums about the park's design. They said they want residents to tell them how best to situate the future factories and offices among the farm's four ponds, creeks and hills. The hills on the property peak at an elevation of 1,660 feet, about 400 feet above Interstate 81, which runs below.
"This is going to be an asset to that community, or quite simply, it won't happen," said Bob Johnson, a supervisor.
"We want to work with the terrain, with the environment there," said Hodge, who later added that the forest covering about a third of the property "will probably never be cut."
Supervisor Spike Harrison said he would be the public's watchdog on the project. There will be "no zoning change until we have agreement with the public," he said.
If the county buys the land, it will install roads and utilities at public expense and sell lots to businesses, which would construct their own buildings. This is a common way to create an industrial park and one that can produce a permanent stream of tax payments to local government and recoup taxpayer dollars spent for land and improvements.
Residents of the roughly 100 homes surrounding the farm - who drink well water and deposit sewage in septic tanks - could tap into new sewer and water trunk lines that would pass their neighborhoods to serve the park, officials said. Some residents have asked for those services, said Tim Gubala, the county's economic development director.
The county is running low on vacant lots for industry, which could stunt economic growth, officials said. The new park - more than twice as large as any the county has developed - could lure $400 million in investments and 4,000 jobs, Johnson said. He said he presumed for his estimate that the proposed park could attract the same jobs and investment per acre as two existing parks started by the county.
The site is ideal for operating a business, Hodge said, because it is near the Dixie Caverns interchange, 10 miles from Roanoke Regional Airport, 14 miles from downtown Roanoke and 23 miles from Virginia Tech. But officials vowed Tuesday to sell the lots only to small and medium-size businesses paying high wages that don't generate excessive traffic, noise or pollution.
John Stroud, president of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he supports the county staking out turf for business before residential developers grab it. "We've got to have land in our region for the type of development we feel is important," Stroud said.
Another pledge directed at nearby residents is that no new roads would be built into the park from Prunty or Glenvar Heights, according to Gubala.
Charlie Landis, a Glenvar resident who accepted a seat on the project's new resident advisory council, called the county's willingness to involve the community a positive step. "Before they just came out and told us what they intended to do," he said.
However, "I'm concerned. My neighbors on all sides of the Glenn-Mary site are concerned."
"There will be a lot of opposition," said council member Winton Shelor, president of the civic league for the nearby Fort Lewis residential area.
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: JANEL RHODA THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Glenvar residents Lesby CNBand Jan Siler said, "It looks like now they're going to stuff it
down our throat no matter if we want it or not." The Silers said
they want at least 100 feet of woods between their back fence on
Glenvar Heights Boulevard and the proposed park's closest building.
color. 2. (headshot) Daugherty. Graphic: Map by staff. color.