Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503060002
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Medium
Lorraine Bowles and Edith Oliver enjoy their trips to the grocery store these days.
That's because the Smith Mountain Lake residents no longer have to travel a half-hour to Vinton to shop. There's a new Food Lion at the lake, at Virginia 116 and 122. A drugstore and a couple of strip shopping centers are nearby.
None of this development was here three years ago, but as the population at the lake continued to climb, so did the need for commercial business.
``I used to have to take coolers with me to the store,'' Oliver says. ``It's a lot more convenient now. And I like having the drugstore here for my husband's prescriptions.''
Bowles says she also would like to see a movie theater and a few upscale restaurants locate at the lake.
``My husband said there'd never be a grocery store here,'' she says. ``But look now. I hope it doesn't get totally out of hand, but I'll still be here if it does.''
Blacksburg developer David Reemsnyder uses the dance-lesson theory to explain the development trend. Where residential growth pops up, he says, ``the dance lessons follow.''
Michael Chandler, a planning consultant with the Institute for Community Resource Development at Virginia Tech, offers this:
``When you say yes to development, ultimately, on somebody's wristwatch, there'll be a time when there's a call for services. And that includes commercial needs - like gas stations and 7-Elevens.''
Brenda Davis, who recently moved from Blue Ridge to the outskirts of Fincastle in Botetourt County, doesn't need a wristwatch to track commercial growth. She uses a stopwatch.
Davis takes it on herself to contact companies that she wants to move into her neighborhood.
Her efforts to get 1,582 signatures on a petition helped net a Food Lion store that's moving in just down the road in Daleville.
After receiving the petition, Food Lion went through its four-step process to decide if Daleville was the place for a new store.
According to Brian Peace, public affairs manager for Food Lion Inc., the process includes: a demographic study of the general area near a proposed store site; an in-depth study of the specific site, including a traffic count and traffic flow patterns; the convenience of the site to the people in the area; and the competition Food Lion would face.
``The Roanoke area remains a very attractive market for Food Lion,'' Peace says.
Davis is now targeting Rally's, Kentucky Fried Chicken and - last but not least - Wal-Mart. She has a file cabinet chock full of petitions.
``We moved to Fincastle because we like the people out here,'' she says. ``And I think most people agree with what I'm trying to do. I've heard some say, though, that the development will destroy our countryside. Well, one or two things isn't going to mess it up.''
Daleville resident Laura Bullock says her family looked at the entire Roanoke Valley and decided to move to Botetourt County to get away from the very thing that's now cropping up next door.
``Some of the things [Davis] is doing are commendable, but we moved out here because we can drive to Roanoke in 10 minutes to shop and to go to the movies. I do believe the areas surrounding the city of Roanoke are in transition, and I don't like this `Come one, come all' philosophy.''
Bullock says she understands that growth is inevitable, but she would like to see increased planning for the location and construction of new business. The new Advance Auto store in Daleville, with its bright lights, has become the latest flashpoint for Botetourt County residents upset about the pace - and style - of development in their community.
``It's got to be a struggle for the people that are elected,'' Bullock says.
The changes roll on in Botetourt and other areas close to Roanoke.
And it's not just new restaurants and subdivisions.
Villa Heights Baptist Church watched its congregation move away or die off at its Lafayette Boulevard site in Roanoke, where it had been for 66 years. So, like many of its parishioners, the church decided to move to the suburbs.
``We felt if we were going to serve and minister, we should be in a more effective location,'' the Rev. Harold C. Lewis says. ``We wanted to get in a growth area, and we wanted to be on a highway or street connected to other arteries of traffic.''
A 14-acre site in Bonsack in Roanoke County, overlooking U.S. 460 and new subdivisions, proved to be the right spot for Villa Heights. Now, the fastest-growing age group in the church is the ``child-bearing young couples.''
``Now the nursery is full,'' Lewis says.
Staff writer Jan Vertefeuille contributed to this report.
by CNB