Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 13, 1993 TAG: 9310130219
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KAREN BARNES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Mariner's Landing Shopping Center, developed by J.W. Development of Forest, scored high under the county's Land Use Guidance System, but neighbors of the now-agricultural land rallied against the idea of a shopping area or office park across from Mariner's Landing Golf Course.
They complained that the development would cause increased traffic, noise, unsightly views, additional lights and pollution. Residents also expressed reluctance to change the rural nature of the area for a strip mall.
But the project manager said the company has taken their concerns into account and redesigned the original configuration. The only two-story building proposed, a 60-unit motel, has been moved to a lower part of the site, away from the view of an adjacent property owner.
Bill Berry said he envisions a bank, real estate and other offices as well as a grocery store and other stores signing on to the now-empty client list.
But the development firm has no specific timetable in mind to start recruitment of tenants or construction.
"We don't plan to build anything right now," Berry said. "We just wanted to get a master plan approved."
The Planning Commission, which approved the proposal unanimously, had stipulated that only two light-industrial businesses could be included in the development.
With the scheduled opening of the back nine holes of Mariner's Landing Golf Course next summer, Berry hopes increased activity will attract tenants.
That additional traffic concerned several citizens who logged opposition at an earlier hearing. The site, near Virginia 626 and Virginia 608, is too close to another unfilled commercial endeavor in White House Corner, they argued.
A restaurant and store are there, as well as an empty building.
"People who are attracted to this county and particularly the Lakes District are appreciative of the lack of strip commercial development and urban sprawl causing the congestion from which we escaped," wrote Richard and Janet Hill of Huddleston in a letter to Supervisor James Teass.
Teass said most of the opposition came from a residential area several miles from the proposed site, but that "people in the general area are interested in it."
He expressed confidence in the developer's ability to construct a compatible atmosphere across from the golf course because the same company controls both the land and the course.
"I couldn't envision them doing anything to diminish their property," he said.
NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
by CNB