Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 27, 1991 TAG: 9103270307
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Commission member Rodney Meador said there were too many gaps in plans submitted by Augusta P. Dudley and her son, Jeff.
Meador's motion to deny a special-use permit passed 4-3. The Franklin County Board of Supervisors will have the final say next month.
The Dudleys' request has reopened a debate over the quality of development at Smith Mountain Lake, pitting old-timers who want to hang onto their farms against developers and owners of single-family lots.
The supervisors turned down a similar proposal last year, but the Dudleys recently renewed their request.
Like many other old-timers whose farms were flooded by the creation of Smith Mountain Lake in the 1960s, the Dudleys rented trailer spaces on their land. The family has leased eight spaces since 1968.
Jeff Dudley said rising land values have left his mother and him with only two choices - sell out to developers or increase their rental income by adding trailer spaces.
Dudley said it would be out of the question to sell land that has been in the family for more than a century.
Some residents of nearby subdivisions conceded Tuesday that the Dudleys' latest request was an improvement over last year's. The plan would allow only new-model trailers and includes an engineer's layout of the spaces.
But the sticking point remains visibility. While the trailers now on the Dudleys' land are located on the far side of a hill, the proposed trailer spaces would be placed on a knoll in plain view of motorists on Virginia 616 and 601.
Bill Simmons, president of the Deer Creek Neighborhood Association, said many of his neighbors would have no objection if the trailers were screened by trees taller than a proposed 2-foot-tall line of white pines.
Several other neighbors, however, said they objected to trailers - no matter how well they were screened.
"I don't understand why we could consider something to be built that is so ugly that we have to screen it," said Roy Oliver, developer of nearby Stone Ridge, a subdivision of exclusive homes.
"Why would we want to jeopardize this kind of growth by putting in a 16-unit trailer court that is going to be an eyesore?"
Douglas Cundiff, a resident of Key Lakewood, said many people who rent in trailer courts at the lake were "riffraff" who tear up the area and leave a mess for property owners.
"We've got enough trailers," Cundiff said. "We've got enough shanties. It's not fair for us to put up with stuff like this."
Developer Ron Willard said the Dudleys could make more than twice as much money by subdividing their farm.
"But we don't want to sell," Jeff Dudley replied.
Although several speakers said trailers "downgrade" the area, a staff report prepared by Planning Director Carolyn Handy noted that the Dudley farm is next to a marina, campground and subdivision that includes a mix of trailers and single-family homes.
Meador said the Dudleys' request lacked details needed for a decision. Voting to recommend denial were Marshall Blair, Edmund Law, Hubert Ruff Sr. and Meador. Opposing the motion were George Metz, Melvin Clark and Edward Goode.
Fifteen months ago, the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of Dudley's request.
In other matters, the commission:
Voted 7-0 to recommend approval of a map correction formally recognizing an automobile graveyard that Jerry D. Graham has operated behind his house on Virginia 678 for years. Goode, the Planning Commission chairman, said he sympathized with neighbors' complaints, but there was nothing the panel could do because the graveyard existed before the county adopted a zoning ordinance in May 1988.
Voted 7-0 to recommend approval of a variance for a private marina that Willard plans to build in the proposed Boardwalk condominium project. The marina would extend nearly 400 feet beyond the county's 120-foot limit for docks and piers.
Voted 7-0 to recommend approval of Tommy Barnhart's request to rezone four acres on Virginia 739 to build a repair shop for trucks.
Voted 7-0 to recommend approval of a variance to the county's lot-width requirement so that Bear Creek Developers Inc. can build a house in the Hillcrest Heights subdivision at Smith Mountain Lake.
by CNB