ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997 TAG: 9704210012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN AND PAUL DELLINGER
The Riner Group, shot down in its plans to build 20 town houses on a three-acre parcel on Five Points Road, has applied to subdivide the land into five lots.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors in February denied the request to build the town houses, siding with concerns about increased traffic and the appropriateness of town houses in a predominantly agricultural and single-family residential community.
The Riner Group is made up of Realtors Carl McNeil and Randy Gardner and lumber company president John Turman. Under its present zoning, with public water and sewer available, half-acre lots are allowed for either single family houses or duplexes.
The Planning Commission voted Wednesday to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the plat. The conditions include having plans for streets and drainage reviewed and approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation and plans for public water and sewer systems approved by the Public Service Authority. An erosion and sediment control plan must be approved by the county engineer.
Also Wednesday, the commission set a May 21 public hearing on a request from a Waynesboro company to place at least three digital communications towers in the county.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday referred three requests for communication tower permits back to the commission for further review and scheduling of a separate public hearing.
CFW Wireless has applied for the permits to erect three digital communication towers, each less than 200 feet tall. CFW wants to lease property from landowners on Merrimac Road near Price Mountain; Cornbread Road near Interstate 81's Radford exits; and Dunlap Drive near Exit 118 in Christiansburg. Other sites in the county are being considered, and a lease was recently signed with Supervisor Joe Stewart for a tower on property he owns in the Shawsville area, company representatives said Wednesday. And the company is negotiating with Virginia Tech to place a tower at Lane Stadium.
The commission also tabled making a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on Virginia Tech's offer to put 140 acres on Price Mountain in a conservation easement. The commission wants to investigate making changes to Tech's conditions on the offer. Last June, a 4-3 vote by the supervisors gave state highway officials the go-ahead to seek condemnation of land in the Ellett Valley area for the smart road. About 140 acres were in a protected conservation zone called an agricultural and forestal district. Tech President Paul Torgersen made the Price Mountain offer as a conciliatory gesture.
In November, the university's Board of Visitors authorized an agreement with the county that places the land in a conservation easement with terms similar to those that govern agricultural and forestal districts. The county supervisors referred the matter to the commission for a recommendation. The commission would like to see the land be on the ridge top instead of on the slope close to Virginia 114, and would prefer the easement be perpetual rather than for 10 years.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors on Monday scheduled a May 12 public hearing on a proposed ordinance to increase board members' salaries to $9,000 a year. Supervisors currently are paid $6,924 a year. The chairman is paid an additional $1,800 and the vice chairman an additional $1,200.
Upcoming:
The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors meets Monday beginning at 1 p.m. in the Brush Mountain Room in Squires Student Center. The board will consider the 1997-98 faculty compensation plan, tuition rates for veterinary students and the 1997-98 university budget. Four committee meetings will precede the full board meeting. They include: Academic Affairs at 8:30 a.m. in the president's board room in Burress Hall; Buildings and Grounds at 9 a.m. in conference room A at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center; Student Affairs at 9 a.m. in conference room C of Donaldson Brown; Finance and Audit at 8 a.m. in the Executive Conference Room of Donaldson Brown.
Dublin Town Council has postponed its regular meeting which would have been Thursday to a date to be announced later, after town offices have been moved into the new Dublin Town Hall.
Council has been holding its sessions in the meeting room of the Free Memorial Library in Dublin. Before that, it met in the current municipal building in downtown Dublin.
Town offices will close Monday for the move from the downtown municipal building, and probably reopen Wednesday in their new quarters. A dedication ceremony for the new building in the Dublin Town Center will be scheduled for mid-May.
The Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce will host the New River Valley's state legislative delegation at a luncheon at noon Wednesday at the L. Brinkley Eure Education Building at Columbia Pulaski Community Hospital.
State Sens. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, and Del. Tommy Baker, R-Pulaski County, are scheduled to speak. Chamber members planning to attend should make reservations by Monday. Admission is $10.
Blacksburg Town Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday night at 7:30 on the town's revamped zoning ordinance and zoning map. The public hearing is the town's fourth on the topic. A Town Council vote could come Tuesday night. The meeting is in the Municipal Building, 300 S. Main St.
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