Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190114
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lynchburg firefighters were gathered around the television set in Station No.1 one night last week when a story about Frances Lamb and her wayward trailer came on the news.
Firefighters turned to Cmdr. Walter Bailey, who also heads a mobile-home moving company, and suggested he help Lamb out. Bailey said he would if they'd assist him.
``Basically, we felt sorry for her,'' Bailey said. ``She got caught in the situation.''
So the Roanoke County woman with the illegally located trailer will get the help of about 10 Lynchburg firefighters in moving her home across the county line into Montgomery County.
Lamb's trailer is about 240 feet shy of legitimacy, and Roanoke County prevented her from getting electric service in an effort to get her to negotiate a move to Montgomery County. Single-wide trailers such as Lamb's are not allowed in Roanoke County outside of trailer parks.
Bailey's is one of several businesses donating services to move Lamb, who has lived in the trailer without heat or running water since before Christmas.
Roanoke County is giving her until March 3 to get the trailer relocated on her 5-acre parcel that straddles the Montgomery-Roanoke County line on Williby Road in Catawba. And officials are giving her a temporary permit to get electric service hooked up until the move.
Lamb said Wednesday that she would rather stay where she is, but is willing to cooperate with the county.
Roanoke County officials have gone out of their way to help Lamb, with offers of a free furnished apartment for a month and one suggestion to move the county line so all of Lamb's property sits in Montgomery. In the end, they decided to seek donations from surveyors, movers, road builders and others to prepare a site for the mobile home and move it.
The county's only option to enforce the zoning ordinance is to take Lamb to court, a time-consuming process.
``I think Roanoke County deserves a lot of credit,'' County Administrator Elmer Hodge said. ``The fact remains she knowingly moved it in violation of the zoning ordinance. We realized she doesn't deal with these ordinances every day, and I think we took that into consideration.''
Lamb was told that she couldn't move her trailer to the Roanoke County side of her property, where an existing trailer pad, well and septic system existed. When she went to Montgomery County, the Health Department came out and inspected the well and septic system and the zoning office issued a permit - thinking the site was in that county.
Lamb said she thought she was all set, since they inspected the site and issued a permit. Then Montgomery voided the permit, which she needed to get electricity turned on.
Planning Director Terry Harrington told Lamb in a letter Wednesday that she has until March3 to move the trailer. If she hasn't moved by then, he said, the county would begin court action.
Some of her neighbors on Williby Road have demanded that the county take action, because the mobile home is in violation of county ordinances.
``A number of factors made this [situation] unique,'' Hodge said, ``and, hopefully, it won't occur again.''
by CNB