ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240034
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER THE ROANOKE TIMES
After years of work and hearings, Blacksburg adopts a plan that will guide the town's growth.
After five years, three public hearings and seven work sessions, Town Council unanimously adopted an extensive revision of its zoning ordinance that will help shape the town's growth into the next century.
The zoning revision - the town's first comprehensive one in 20 years - was effective immediately.
One of the last hurdles the council tackled Tuesday night concerned the area bounded by Washington, Piedmont, Prospect and Lee streets. About six or seven of the 16 citizens who spoke expressed concern over a proposal that would have left the area zoned for apartments. Most of those who spoke said they wanted their area to keep its neighborhood feel.
The Lee Street issue had been brought up at an earlier March public hearing as well, but Town Council hadn't been able to agree on how the area should be zoned - for low-density apartments, as planned, or transitional residential.
Tuesday, Town Council agreed to change the zoning to transitional residential, a district designed to retain the area's neighborhood feel and act as a buffer between areas of low and high density.
Council member Michael Chandler said development in the Lee Street area has already somewhat taxed its water and sewer system. The area's aging and narrow streets and the residents' wish to keep a neighborhood feel helped his decision to rezone the area.
Mayor Roger Hedgepeth was the lone vote against the proposal to rezone the Lee Street area.
"I can sympathize with what a number of speakers said who live on Lee Street and Roanoke Street in a single-family home. They've earned the right to live there in peace and quiet," he said.
"But I have several reservations whether any good can come with the R-5 [transitional residential] zoning. There's practically nothing you can do there without a special-use permit with R-5, other than single-family homes and duplexes, which is fine if you live there, but not enough to attract investors to do these good things."
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB