Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993 TAG: 9310270069
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Not for the Montgomery County Planning Commission.
By a 4-1 vote, the commission Monday recommended approval of the lengthy document designed to help preserve the bucolic countryside that gives rural Montgomery its charm.
Rather than call it the open-space initiative - the name that's been used for two years - the commission chose the more mundane "Conservation and Development" amendment to the comprehensive plan.
The plan now goes before the Montgomery Board of Supervisors, possibly for a decision as soon as Nov. 4.
Though the open-space initiative may have been a rose of a plan, the thorn was landowners' perception that "open space" means open access to private property.
That, coupled with other concerns that the plan could infringe on private property rights, made the commission reconsider the name at its Oct. 20 meeting and on Monday.
Three of the nine commission members missed Monday's meeting. Commissioner Jim Martin was the lone "no" vote, though Betty Dunn abstained. Martin is running against incumbent Henry Jablonski for the District D Board of Supervisors seat.
Commissioners cited four major reasons they supported the plan: that it balances valuable natural resources with development the county needs for the future; that the open-space planning process involved hundreds of people over two years; that the plan stresses voluntary programs and includes only nine (out of 63) recommendations that involve government regulation; and that Montgomery is rapidly changing to a suburban county and if conservation and development are not balanced now, it will be too late.
by CNB