City, county clash over
zoning
Decision could bring new
business to interchange
By BRITT STANIAR
 |
| According to current planning, this area could be rezoned to allow strip malls. Photo by Britt Staniar |
Rockbridge county officials proposed a new zoning plan for the Interstate 81 and U.S. 60 interchange.
The plan, which would allow businesses to set up shop on the interchange, has met with opposition from the Lexington City Council.
The new zoning would accommodate strip development, which means business would be given access on and off major roads. This access would encourage business to grow in strips of low buildings bordering those major roads.
Lexington City Manager Jon Ellestad says the city council is worried that the city's economy would be hurt by the development on the interchange, which is three miles outside of the Lexington.
"I can foresee a great deal of commercial development," said Ellestad. "People will stop on the interstate, they'll go to the restaurant there and they'll go on their way and won't have any opportunity to come into the city and possibly see something they like."
Ellestad said the development would keep people from seeing what he called "a remarkably beautiful entrance" into the city.
Formal Opposition
Ellestad says the city council could consider a formal resolution in opposition to the rezoning as soon as March 1.
While the city of Lexington has no formal power to stop the rezoning of the land, they could refuse to allow the county to connect the development to the city's sewer system.
That refusal would require the county to build new sewer pumping facilities and to forge a sewer line across the Maury River, adding to a financing debt that is already expected to cost the county more than $500,000 a year.
Harvey Hotinger, the supervisor representing the Kerrs Creek district, says that any formal action to oppose the rezoning by the city would be premature.
"The city is getting a little ahead of itself on this one," said Hotinger. "We're still in the planning phase here."
Interest in development
David Kleppinger, the head of the Rockbridge Partnership, which is Lexington's and the county's economic development agency, said he has businesses interested in moving to the area around the interchange.
He said that the land around the U.S. 11 and I-81 interchange is too expensive, at more than $600,000 an acre, for many businesses to move to the area. He said the U.S. 60 and I-81 interchange is a good alternative, and defended the Board of Supervisors' desire to rezone the land.
"It's very Virginian for people to be able to use their land for its highest and best use," said Kleppinger. The best use of land centrally located between Buena Vista and Lexington is not agricultural, he said.
Inevitability
Despite their differences in opinion about what should be done with the land, Kleppinger and Ellestad both say development of the area around the interchange is inevitable.
A letter from the city's planning commission sent to the county's Rockbridge Growth Planning Committee asked the county to consider "clustering economic activity at more intensive nodes."
Ellestad said he has not received any replies to the letter sent last April. He said the county may not regulate growth because of their need to find tax revenues from new businesses to help pay for the cost of the sewers.
Ellestad said that the county's expenses could reach as high as $10 million on water and sewer service alone.
Because of this expense, Ellestad said, "they're going to be interested in getting any kind of development they can get to locate along that line."
Kleppinger says that he still hopes to find a solution that is in everyone's interest.
"There's a lot of conversation here. Hopefully we will keep working together and find a positive compromise."
See where the interchange is located
The letter sent to the
County Growth Planning Committee:
Page 1
Page 2
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Claudette Artwick
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd