The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors took a major leap Tuesday toward creating a city-like urban corridor in the Tanglewood Mall area of U.S. 419. By a 4-1 vote (Councilman George Assad said “no”), the supervisors approved a resolution that incorporates the 419 Town Center Plan into the county’s overall Comprehensive Plan.
The urbanization of the corridor, said County Planner Phil Thompson, will provide “a gateway” to the Roanoke Valley on the southern end eventually. He said the plan could take “20-plus, probably 30 years to fully implement.”
The area has the third highest traffic volume in the Roanoke Valley and is close to both the Fralin Biomedical Research Center and Virginia Western Community College.
The plan will help create an area that “is more walkable, more bikeable” for those living there and will encourage business and housing development in the area. Roanoke County, as a whole, is 78% agriculture and just 1.85% commercial, the plan points out.
Six speakers generally supported the plan, but made suggestions that it be handicapped accessible, green and that it “not only be opportunity recognition,” but that the vision be filled. Joyce Waugh of the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce insisted the development would help create businesses and jobs and “would strengthen the overall business climate.”
Supervisor Martha Hooker emphasized that the board’s approval was conditional and that “we will revisit, revise as we need to” during the course of the development.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).
