ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: The Future of Mill Mountain
SOURCE: DAN CASEY THE ROANOKE TIMES
He has a privileged view from atop Mill Mountain, but Ralph Smith uses words like "underutilized" when discussing the city's most prime piece of real estate.
Just after dusk, Ralph Smith stares out the window of Rockledge, his stone mansion on Mill Mountain.
Below are the headlights of cars snaking along Interstate 581. Behind them are the tall buildings that etch downtown Roanoke's skyline; the winking beacons of Roanoke Regional Airport; rows of street lights marking the city's major thoroughfares.
Once a Williamson Road-area "poor boy," the 54-year-old self-made millionaire has lived in the house for about five years. The view still takes his breath away.
It also causes him to wonder: "Should I be the only one entitled to this?"
That question is at the heart of Smith's argument that the city should keep the door open to some sort of "appropriate" development on top of its largest park.
It also is contrary to a lot of recent public debate over Mill Mountain's future, which has focused on preserving the mountain in its natural state. Development opponents include South Roanoke's Betty Field, who hikes the mountain's trails every day.
As a member of the recently renamed Mill Mountain Advisory Committee, Smith's say on such matters carries weight. Although the committee has no power to govern the use of mountain, City Council relies on it for advice.
Smith says Mill Mountain offers recreational and promotional opportunities for Roanoke that would be lost if it is "left to the deer and the turkeys."
"I'm the only person who's stood up and said, `Consider these things,''' he said. "But there's a lot of people who believe that the mountain is - and this is [Mayor David Bowers'] term, not mine - a `poorly used asset.'''
Smith, the city Republican chairman, has firsthand experience with Mill Mountain's assets. Perched higher than any other house on the mountain, his 67-year-old home is in frequent demand for fund-raisers by GOP candidates and nonprofit organizations.
Whether they're $12 garden club tours or $250-per-person fetes for Oliver North or George Allen, tickets to events at the 8,300-square-foot house sell quickly.
That's how Smith knows there's plenty of demand for something like a small restaurant on the mountaintop. There, diners would get the same stunning view he has at every meal.
"All this activity that Betty [Field] has mounted - and I think the world of Betty - I just think that's a selfish idea, to say that you can use the mountain only if you're a hiker-biker," Smith says. "I already have this wonderful view. I should be the last person in the world to advocate this. But I understand the value of it. There's so many other things that we spend money on. I think the other citizens of the Roanoke Valley are entitled to that right."
The restaurant "would be the type of thing you'd go to for anniversaries and birthdays," Smith said. "Having a night scene [such as a separate bar or dance floor], I'd be opposed to that. I think most everybody would."
Smith is quick to add that he has no personal interest in owning any type of food-service operation on the mountain.
Another idea: a cliffside visitors center near the mountain's top. Smith suggests it could go near the current picnic grounds, where a small wooden viewing perch now stands.
"Explore Park, Mill Mountain Zoo, the City Market, the [Virginia Museum of Transportation]. They all need more visitors," Smith says. "We have something. And we have a city that needs the tourist trade."
The center could have small dioramas pinpointing valley attractions. Perhaps businesses could buy space on them, he says.
"It would be a little commercial - it doesn't have to be tacky - that shows you visually where the market area is, where the airport is. Or Valley View Mall, Towers Shopping Center. How many people would that draw - new people to Roanoke - who would decide, `Why don't we spend our money here?'''
The visitors center, Smith adds, might also double as a banquet or reception hall that could be rented for special events.
"You could have catered events, like wedding receptions. And at all other times it's a welcome center for the Roanoke Valley. A south-side entry way," Smith said.
All of this, he says, is in keeping with the Fishburn grant - a set of conditions under which the late J.B. Fishburn donated the land to the city for use as a park.
"The Fishburn grant doesn't say, `It shall be left in its natural state.''' Smith argues. "It doesn't say, `It shall be left to the deer and the turkeys.' It says, `It shall be preserved for all the citizens of the Roanoke Valley to use and enjoy.'''
Smith has at least one ally on the 10-person advisory committee. Jordan Peck, a Roanoke construction engineer, also believes that it would be a mistake to permanently close the door on development in the park.
So far, the committee has suggested none. It is now part way through a look at Mill Mountain's future.
Some residents are cheering development of the mountain. One of them is Edwin J. Ewing, a retired Virginia Tech professor who lives in Southwest Roanoke near Oak Grove Elementary School.
Ewing would like to see something like the old Rockledge Inn rebuilt on the mountain. The former hotel was the site of Mill Mountain Theatre until it was destroyed by fire in 1976. Ewing says a rebuilt inn could be a place where families could sit down for a nice meal, or where tourists could grab a quick hamburger.
"Here we have the same opportunity, and we argue about hiking trails," Ewing says.
He'd also like to see a Roanoke Valley monorail connecting the mountain with other local attractions, such as the airport, City Market, the Civic Center and Explore Park.
"I think a lot more people feel more like I do," Ewing says. "If you travel very much and you go to any of these cities that have monorails or anything, you think, `My goodness, we're shortchanging ourselves.'''
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CARY BEST THE ROANOKE TIMES. Ralph Smith at Rockledge,by CNBhis home on Prospect Road. He thinks the city should keep the door
open to the idea of building a restaurant or a visitors'
center/reception for weddings and other celebrations on Mill
Mountain. color.