Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993 TAG: 9307290446
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But County Administrator Elmer Hodge said he is holding out hope that a way can be found to preserve the 30 or so acres that are most visible from the parkway.
"It is my personal preference to leave the critical areas undeveloped," Hodge said Monday.
Conservationists have one last chance - an appeal to the National Park Service.
The Park Service must approve easements across parkway property before Boone can extend public sewer service to the 235-acre Beasley Farm off Cotton Hill Road in Southwest Roanoke County.
Preservationists are urging Park Service officials to withhold the easements until Boone agrees not to disturb a 20-acre grassy bowl on the south side of the parkway and a 10-acre knoll on the north side.
Officials at the Blue Ridge Parkway headquarters in Asheville, N.C., say they will consider trading utility easements for other property rights such as "scenic easements" to protect parkway views.
"We're not trying to hold a club over anyone's head, but we're looking at this whole thing," said Jim Fox, park ranger for land resources.
Boone maintains that his housing scheme in Southwest Roanoke County would blend with the rural parkway landscape. But critics say the land is so exposed that any development would destroy one of the most pastoral vistas in the county.
Boone is expected to get much of what he wants today when a panel appointed by Hodge releases its long-awaited report on preserving parkway views in the Roanoke Valley.
The committee is expected to conclude that the county can limit the density of development along the parkway, but cannot ban development altogether.
The strictest zoning classification, AG-3, would allow one house for every 3 acres. Boone already has sued Roanoke County to allow him to build up to six houses per acre.
Some members of the Board of Supervisors predict the county would lose in court if it imposed tighter limits upon Boone.
Cave Spring District Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix raised the spectre of a 1992 Virginia Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for a five-story office building next to the Green Valley neighborhood, even though developers had agreed to follow a preliminary site plan that called for two stories.
"If we go to court [with Boone], it's going to be the `too-tall building' revisited," Minnix said.
Hodge said he hoped the parkway committee's report would be the first step in a negotiated settlement. The final step, he said, rested with the National Park Service.
In December, Boone told supervisors that he was willing to make several concessions in order to satisfy the Park Service. Boone said he would place deed restrictions on property within critical views that required building and design standards that would mesh with the rustic nature of the parkway. He also said he would agree to large lots.
"We'll put in one-acre lots on that property. We have no problem with that," Boone said at a Dec. 15 meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
It remains to be seen if the Park Service will insist upon further concessions. Parkway Superintendent Gary Everhardt could not be reached for comment Monday.
Preservationists have urged parkway officials to do what it takes to prevent the parkway from turning into a suburban access road.
by CNB