Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993 TAG: 9312070075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Board of Supervisors last week approved the first expansion of a county mobile-home park in six years and moved closer to donating an old school building for use as low-income apartments.
"This is just a thimble into a need that exists for Roanoke County," Supervisor Harry Nickens said. "But two or three thimblefuls here or there will make a difference."
Officials in Roanoke complain that city taxpayers bear the cost of housing programs - and related social services - in the entire Roanoke Valley.
Roanoke County has no public housing projects and only a handful of federally subsidized apartment units.
Part of the problem is defining "affordable housing." In the inner city, affordable means modest apartments or houses within the reach of people holding low-paying service jobs. In the affluent suburbs, "affordable" is defined by developer Len Boone as houses costing between $150,000 to $200,000.
Affordable housing was a major sticking point when valley governments sat down this fall to discuss consolidating basic services, such as water, sewer and economic development.
Roanoke has demanded that valley governments share responsibility for other services, particularly housing for the working poor.
"They need to assume responsibility for all the problems - not just the glitzy issues as economic development and others," Roanoke Mayor David Bowers said.
Bowers said he was not aware of the steps the county took last week, but he welcomed the action.
On Nov. 30, the Board of Supervisors gave permission to Carolina Mobile Home Park off U.S. 460 to expand to 40 spaces from 24.
It was the first mobile-home expansion since 1986, when Roanoke County adopted strict regulations designed to push mobile homes - which for many represent the first rung on the ladder of home ownership - into neighboring Franklin and Bedford counties.
But the county softened its stand - and its mobile-home regulations - last year.
"We realized that maybe they were a little too strict," Planning Director Terry Harrington said.
Carolina Mobile Home Park took advantage of one new regulation that reduced the minimum area needed to expand from 10 acres to 5 acres. Owner Jerry Altieri had 6 acres available.
Harrington concluded that the expanded mobile-home park would not affect surrounding property because of its location next to Roanoke's Centre for Industry and Technology.
Hollins District Supervisor Bob Johnson said the economics make it unlikely that other mobile-home parks in the county will grow.
"To be honest with you, the price of water and sewer connections and just the price of land have removed that alternative for the citizens of Roanoke County," said Johnson, the president of HCMF Real Estate.
While they quickly approved the Carolina Mobile Home Park expansion, supervisors have had a difficult time deciding what will be done with the old Pinkard Court School building when it becomes vacant in April.
The school, located in a small subdivision off U.S. 220 near Tanglewood Mall, has been used in recent years for leisure arts classes offered by the county Recreation Department. The classes will be relocated as part of the county's purchase of a new administration building on Virginia 419.
Last month, County Administrator Elmer Hodge recommended donating the building and 4.5 acres to Total Action Against Poverty, which plans to transform the school into six to eight efficiency apartments for low-income elderly residents.
The TAP deal was held up because supervisors wanted legal assurances that the school property would be used for a purpose consistent with the neighborhood.
County officials say Pinkard Court residents have "no objection" to turning the school into apartments for the elderly.
That, however, does not mean that the residents favor the proposal.
"No, it's not really OK, but there is nothing we can do about it," said Barbara Hylton, who lives across the street. "I understand it's a done deal."
Pinkard Court residents are using the attention from the school deal to focus attention on long-simmering resentments about inadequate services in their modest subdivision, which was developed in the 1920s.
Residents would like a traffic light at the entrance to the neighborhood, where they sometimes must wait up to 20 minutes to make a left turn onto 220.
Residents also complain that their basements flood during heavy rain. Some of the water rushes in from a culvert that drains Hunting Hills, an affluent neighborhood located in the hills above Pinkard Court.
Alvin Nash, deputy director of TAP, said his agency would work with residents to encourage Roanoke County to complete drainage improvements that have been in the works for a decade.
"Those neighborhood concerns become our concerns," Nash said. "We are going to push vigorously for the county to see what we can do."
Last week, the donation of Pinkard Court School to TAP ran into additional problems. Some supervisors were concerned that TAP would not accept the building until the county paid for an environmental study of the property and cleaned up any problems.
"I don't think it's a good deal for us to donate a half-a-million-dollar building and grounds and for us to have to abate any asbestos or lead paint," Supervisor Nickens said.
The TAP proposal has dragged on for so long that some supervisors want to give other agencies, such as Habitat for Humanity, a chance to make a proposal.
David Camper, vice president of the Roanoke Habitat chapter, said renovating Pinkard Court would be a departure for his group, which helps low-income families own their own home through "sweat equity."
Camper said the Pinkard Court project may be worth a try if it gets his group into Roanoke County, where high land prices have made it difficult to find affordable building sites.
Nickens suggested giving both groups part of the property - give TAP the existing building to renovate and give Habitat an acre or two for house sites.
"They [Habitat] say they cannot get into the county or Salem because there is no affordable land," Nickens said. "This land is affordable, folks."
The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the Pinkard Court issue at its Dec. 14 meeting.
Staff writer Joel Turner contributed to this report.
by CNB