ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997 TAG: 9704180021
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-17 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETTY FIELD
IN DECEMBER 1990, Roanoke City Council approved and accepted a six-month detailed study of Mill Mountain. The study was done by Rhoadeside Harwell Inc., a landscape architect firm. The city paid $35,000 of our tax money for this study. The study is being used by the Mill Mountain Advisory Committee to evaluate all development efforts on the mountain.
The study contains an analysis of environmental sensitivity; 16 different maps of trails, topography, drainage, soils, etc.; a survey of around 500 citizens; four goals; 10 critical criteria, and 30 discretionary criteria.
Proposals about the mountain receiving a "no" response to any of the 10 items on the critical criteria list would be rejected.
For example, No. 1 on the critical criteria reads: "The proposal shall avoid altering the natural vegetation form and/or creating breaks in the natural woodland canopy of Mill Mountain as seen from downtown Roanoke, the Blue Ridge Parkway or Roanoke's neighborhoods."
In 1991, a proposed gondola ride from the market to the top of the mountain received a "no" and was rejected. The same "no" and rejection would be true today for an incline ride to the top.
The Sister City Project is a civic project that belongs in a city park, not a mountain park. Perhaps a good place would be in Elmwood Park, where people hustle and bustle in the heart of downtown. Seven or eight 9-foot-tall statues (no matter what they look like) seem to conflict with the natural setting of a wildflower garden.
The Sister City Project started out as a simple "plant a tree" on the mountain for each city. It has now grown, with a price tag of $20,000 that fits in with all the other expensive man-made proposals for our mountain park.
The most mentioned opinions in the Rhoadeside Harwell survey of citizens were: "Leave the mountain natural," and "Do not use the mountain for money-generating purposes."
Roanoke has more restaurants per capita than Northern Virginia or Tidewater. The proposals for a banquet hall, restaurant or the re-creation of Rockledge Inn (a hotel and restaurant) seem out of place. In 1991, a restaurant proposal was dropped.
Sometimes I wonder if we truly own Mill Mountain. We are only guests and visitors to this beautiful place, a park for recreation, a place to feed our need for nature but not to feed our stomachs at a restaurant.
Rhoadeside and Harwell has given us the guidelines for Mill Mountain and has given us the way to carry out continuing life.
BETTY FIELD of Roanoke has been active in opposing further development on Mill Mountain.
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