Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 27, 1995 TAG: 9511270079
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Medium
Jeanine Michealsen was a scrappy basketball player at James Madison University.
She scored, rebounded and passed well enough to help the Dukes to four straight NCAA tournaments before she graduated in 1991.
So when Michealsen found out her new job was going to be a little more complicated than she first expected, the Long Island, N.Y., native wasn't about to throw in the towel.
Michealsen recently became executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce/Partnership. The job may bring to mind lazy summer days, cocktail parties and catamarans, but truth be known, Michealsen was nowhere near any of that Tuesday night.
She was in the middle of a political hornet's nest in Franklin County.
The county Board of Supervisors held a public hearing on what has become a controversial issue: the status of short-term rentals at the lake.
Many lake residents - who don't want strangers living next to them in residential subdivisions - oppose short-term rentals. Most real estate agents, however, say they need them to help their businesses survive.
The board agreed to limit short-term rentals to one county residential zone classification and by special use permits only in one other category.
Michealsen, as the chamber's director, spoke in favor of short-term rentals and urged the supervisors not to be too hasty in limiting them.
It was the first Board of Supervisors meeting Michealsen has been to, and she quickly picked up on just how political her job will be.
In Franklin and Bedford counties - where most of the lake's residents live - local politics is served with a squirt of hot sauce.
But Michealsen said she's up to it. Besides, the chamber's former director, Mary Scott, was tuned in to the way political games work around the lake, and she gave Michealsen some pointers before she left.
"I didn't know how political and in-depth this position would be," Michealsen said. "But I like challenges."
She has set her goals high.
No.1 on her list is generating enough interest in the lake to keep businesses open year-round. Many of them now close their doors at the end of summer.
Michealsen has ideas on how to bring people to the lake. She thinks the construction of a community center - possibly housing a small theater and bowling alley - could add spice to the way of life.
"The only way it's going to happen is if some big-money people at the lake get behind it," she said.
She also thinks the lake needs a major hotel chain. The lack of hotel space, she says, is one of the biggest reasons for the controversy over short-term rentals.
But Michealsen, 27, knows that many at the lake want things to stay as they are. They don't want rapid growth to move in and change the character of the area.
"That's one of my greatest challenges with this job: Can people in this area think long term?'' she said. "We have to find a way to get the for-growths and the against-growths to come to some kind of compromise."
Michealsen was picked from more than 60 applicants for the chamber job. She was told she was selected because of her quick smile, her knack of looking people in the eye and her ability to deal with the public.
As a teacher and softball and basketball coach at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Michealsen said she faced of all kinds of situations with students and parents.
"You have to know how to work with people if you're going to be successful," she said.
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