Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9003042043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
So far, most of the industrial "land-banking" rezonings sought by the county administration have breezed through the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors with little or no opposition.
One site that was rezoned last week - a 54-acre tract off Hollins Road owned by Friendship Manor - has been shown to five potential buyers by the Regional Partnership of the Roanoke Valley.
But the county administration's request to rezone a 54-acre tract off West Ruritan Road stuck in the craw of surrounding residents. Last month, the Planning Commission recommended unanimously that the rezoning be denied and called for a detailed study of residential, commercial and industrial growth along U.S. 460 east.
Planning Commission member Wayland Winstead went even further, saying the land-banking rezonings distract from what needs to be done to encourage "genuine, long-term, not make-believe" economic development in the county.
By the end of the year, he said, "we'll have lots of rezonings, but we aren't going to have much economic development."
The rezonings were suggested last fall by economic development director Tim Gubala, who feared that residential development was gobbling up prime industrial land in the county.
The county's tax base is more than 84 percent residential - and the real estate tax revenue from a typical single-family house does not even cover the cost of educating the children who live there.
Less than 16 percent of the county's tax revenue comes from businesses and industries. The Board of Supervisors wants to increase that to 25 percent, but progress has been slow; the ratio has changed by less than one percentage point in the past five years.
Gubala identified a dozen tracts that he said were inappropriately zoned for agricultural or residential development or were inappropriately labeled on the county's future land-use map. The tracts were more or less flat, were close to public water and sewer lines, or had access to major highways or rail sidings - attractive qualities for industrial development.
Gubala and other economic development experts say it over and over: Industries are looking for "ready-to-go" sites that are properly zoned, have utility hookups and good access roads.
A recent example: Elizabeth Arden probably would have built its new distribution center on the Friendship Manor property if it had been "ready to go," Gubala said. Instead, the cosmetics manufacturer decided last month to build at Roanoke's Centre for Industry and Technology.
"We don't have a lot of industrial land," Gubala said. "That's one of our disadvantages."
The Board of Supervisors has approved rezonings or land-use map changes for seven of the tracts identified by Gubala.
The request to rezone one tract - the 287-acre Dowdy property near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Read Mountain overlook - was withdrawn at the request of its owner.
The supervisors were scheduled to vote on the West Ruritan Road rezoning last week. But Gubala asked for a delay until March 27 to give the county and the owner of the tract, Fralin & Waldron Inc., more time to try to ease nearby residents' concerns.
Whether or not the rezoning is approved, it is unlikely the grassy field with low, rolling hills will stay vacant for long. Fralin & Waldron has reminded nearby residents that under the current zoning, it could build more than 200 single-family houses there - although the county planning staff has estimated that, realistically, only 120 to 140 houses could be built.
"Fralin & Waldron is not bluffing," Hollins Supervisor Bob Johnson said recently. "They will develop that as residential."
Still, Johnson said he doubted nearby residents would go along with any proposal for industrial development on the tract. A one-month delay will not change their minds, he said.
The tract is next to the Centre for Industry and Technology and close to where Alternate U.S. 220 meets U.S. 460. That makes it ideal for industrial development.
So does its size. There are not many 50-acre tracts, zoned for industry, under single ownership in the valley. That is why the Friendship Manor tract off Hollins Road has attracted so much attention, Gubala said.
But that is not the only tract suitable for industrial development along U.S. 460, Johnson pointed out. In fact, there is another just across the highway - the 105-acre Lowe property, which the Board of Supervisors rezoned last week.
So long as there is strong opposition from nearby residents, Johnson said he probably will vote against rezoning the Fralin & Waldron property. "I try never to say `never.' But [Gubala] has a hard sell with me."
The opposition of nearby residents, however, was only one of the reasons the Planning Commission recommended denial of the rezoning.
The tract is bounded on three sides by houses; The Meadows of Trent, a new subdivision, is just across West Ruritan Road. It is designated for residential development on the future land-use map, which is part of the county's comprehensive plan. So in addition to rezoning the tract, the county administration wants to change its designation on the land-use map to "principal industrial."
That rankled the Planning Commission.
It is not right for "the county administrator and the Board of Supervisors to sit down and decide what's going to be done" without regard for the comprehensive plan, which residents played a big part in shaping, Winstead said.
The Planning Commission urged the supervisors to have the planning staff do a detailed land-use study of property along U.S. 460. A similar study along Virginia 419 a couple of years ago included a recommendation that vacant land along the highway be used for office, rather than residential, development. Since then, there has been $15 million worth of development along Virginia 419, including the Colonnade Corporate Center and La Premiere, an office park.
A land-use study would look at the impact of new industrial parks off U.S. 460 and Alternate U.S. 220 and the impact of a proposed eastern bypass linking Interstate 81 with U.S. 220 south of Roanoke.
It would give Bonsack residents a chance to express their opinions and concerns about the rapid residential, commercial and industrial growth in their community.
It would take into account the county's goal of increasing the percentage of commercial and industrial tax revenue in its tax base.
And it would set standards for development along U.S. 460. Even if there were no specific plans for a tract that was being rezoned, the Planning Commission would not feel - as it did on the Fralin & Waldron rezoning - that it was being asked to sign a blank check.
But Johnson, who used to be on the Planning Commission, does not like the idea of a U.S. 460 land-use study. That would only take time and money away from what should be the Planning Commission's top priority - a revision of the county's zoning ordinance, he said.
"The 419 study was just a stopgap until that could be done," he said. "It's a Band-Aid approach."
Another veteran of the Planning Commission, Supervisor Lee Eddy, said a U.S. 460 study should be done - possibly, as County Administrator Elmer Hodge suggested, with Botetourt County. In fact, Eddy cast the only vote against the rezoning of the Lowe property last week for that reason.
Supervisor Steve McGraw agreed that a U.S. 460 study is "a good idea. We have a tremendous amount of growth out there. But I'm not sure if it's necessary before we consider this rezoning."
Winstead also doesn't like to see the county administration going to bat for a particular developer - in this case, Fralin & Waldron. Especially when a rezoning request conflicts with the comprehensive plan, it could appear to the public that the county is "in cahoots with" the developer, he said.
Planning Commission member Ron Massey, a Dominion Bankshares Corp. vice president, shares that concern.
"Fralin & Waldron is a tremendous company," he said. But requesting a rezoning on behalf of a developer causes "a real credibility problem" for the county. "I've heard that from residents out there."
Johnson disagrees.
Anyone who thinks the county is "in cahoots with" Fralin & Waldron need only recall that in January the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously not to let construction continue on Fralin & Waldron's "too-tall building" on Virginia 419. The developer is taking the county to court over that decision.
Johnson said he doesn't "buy making Fralin & Waldron out to be a big, bad bully. They've made valuable contributions to our community."
Industrial land-banking is not the only thing the county is doing to encourage economic development.
The county plans to spend up to $2 million to build access roads and extend water and sewer lines to Richmond developer Alan Lingerfelt's Valleypointe commercial and industrial park off Peters Creek Road.
It plans to spend $182,025 for improvements at the Roanoke County-Botetourt County Industrial Park off U.S. 460, where Tweeds and Arkay Packaging have bought land.
And the Southwest Industrial Park, which the county began developing in 1986, now has six companies with 100 employees, generating $36,000 a year in tax revenue. Gubala said the county will recoup its $193,000 investment in the industrial park by 1993.
The Board of Supervisors recently approved guidelines for these "public-private partnerships." The county can pay for all or part of the costs for site development, roads, and utility hookups for industries that have at least 10 full-time employees and are involved in manufacturing, processing or assembly. The county also can do that for "a major employer" that has at least 250 full-time jobs.
Something about these public-private partnerships doesn't sit right with Johnson - who gave up a long career as a lobbyist for teachers last year to start a development company.
"I have a problem with government becoming too involved in what should be a private-sector initiative," he said.
Yet, he admits, localities need to offer incentives to get an edge in the fierce competition to attract new industries.
McGraw, who sells residential and commercial real estate, said, "We need to get into more public-private partnerships, not less. It's necessary, in an area where there's so little growth, for governments to be more involved in economic development."
by CNB