ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
For the second time since the Toms Creek Basin's March rezoning, a developer has asked Town Council to rezone property there to allow more houses per acre in a proposed subdivision.
Town Council heard more than 20 arguments for and against the rezoning at its Tuesday night meeting, but delayed a vote until its Nov. 26 meeting.
The proposed development, Brookfield Village, would sit on 29.3 acres in a rough triangle formed by Toms Creek Road, Redbud Road and the U.S. 460 Bypass.
Last month, Town Council voted to rezone 15.77 acres in a proposed development called The Glen - an undeveloped tract along the U.S. 460 Bypass between Prices Fork and Glade Road - to allow more houses per acre.
Town Council approval of The Glen's rezoning came after meetings between the developer and nearby residents, after which the developer addressed most of the residents' concerns. Another development, Spring Valley - also along the 460 Bypass and south of Toms Creek Road - was approved before the Toms Creek Basin rezoning.
The proposed Brookfield property is allowed an overall density of one residence per acre with no minimum lot size under its current Rural Residential 1 zone. The zoning also requires 50 percent of the site be kept as open space.
Developer Jim Lucas wants the property rezoned Rural Residential 2. The developer could build up to two dwellings per acre if he meets certain conditions, one of which could be the transfer of development rights from other property in the basin to preserve open space, farm land and forests in exchange for rezoning.
Brookfield Village's 56 single-family homes and two commercial structures would create a housing density of 1.89 units per acre.
Lucas has proposed transferring the right to build on 24 acres of a 37-acre tract, located about one-half mile north of the proposed Brookfield site, parallel to the U.S. 460 bypass.
At six square miles, the Toms Creek Basin is Blacksburg's largest remaining undeveloped tract. It was rezoned in March in an attempt to control its development and maintain its rural quality.
Many of the residents who oppose the development - several of whom live in Deerfield, another Lucas development located farther northwest on Toms Creek Road - said they do so out of fear the basin's rural character would be lost if Brookfield's higher housing density were permitted.
They also said there's no need for the two proposed commercial buildings.
Bill Allen, president of the 18-member Deerfield Homeowners Association, said, "We're not opposed to development, nor are we opposed to Jim Lucas - he's well-respected."
"The issue is that we want a certain type of development: RR1, with a maximum of one residence per acre. If that were the proposal, I don't think anyone would be concerned at all," he said.
"I shouldn't speak for the others, but I have heard no one tell me they'd oppose it. There'd certainly be no opposition from me," Allen said.
Scott Roop has lived in and out of Toms Creek Basin for more than 30 years and on High Ridge Road - perched on the hillside above Deerfield and above the proposed Brookfield Village site - for seven years.
He said he remembers 1991, when the then-proposed Deerfield development, with an average lot size of 3.8 acres, was before Town Council for a vote. It, too, was opposed.
He said he has no economic interest in the proposed development, but spoke at Tuesday's Town Council meeting to offer balance.
"Blacksburg will have to grow and that growth should be orderly and quality," Roop said.
Not everyone can expect to retain their views unless they buy it and maintain it themselves. I didn't want my view interrupted, but I look at Deerfield every day," he said.
"Town Council should not dismiss this out of hand," he said. "They have the responsibility to make sure development out there is the best it can possibly be. This is going to set the standard for everything else out there."
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff.by CNB