Zoning Changes at Former Murray Cider Location Move Forward

Proposed changes to Botetourt County’s Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) zoning moved on to the Planning Commission after the Board of Supervisors heard a brief discussion about the changes. The Board met on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, at the Botetourt County Administration Building at Greenfield.

The changes to the TND zoning have been submitted to support a new TND proposed for the old Murray Cider property in the Bonsack area of the county. Called Harvest at Blue Ridge, the proposal on 93 acres calls for over 400 dwelling units and a small amount of commercial property.

Dale Wilkinson, President of The Wilkinson Group, who along with Fincastle lawyer David Spigle, is working on the project, said in a phone conversation after the Board meeting that he hopes the proposed subdivision, “when done properly,” becomes a place where folks drop the kids off to go trick-or-treating at Halloween.

“It’s people oriented,” he said. “The homes are the core of the development and are closer together. The common amenities are open spaces and there will be a consistency in the building material.”

The proposed project’s main street would be on the southwest side of the property, close to Alt. 220. The historic structures of Murray Cider Co. would be repurposed for civic and commercial uses, Wilkinson said.

The proposal has not yet been submitted for consideration by Botetourt County and remains subject to change. None of the developers spoke at the Board meeting.

The proposed zoning changes sent to the Planning Commission include a new use of “dwelling, cottage,” which creates 1,000 square foot single-family lots, allows additional encroachments into required yards within the TND use district, reduces lot area and required yards for residential uses, reduced required yards for accessory buildings, allows alleys to be used as primary access to lots and ensure alleys do not require sidewalks, reduces the land area required to construct an accessory dwelling unit, and other items.

Wilkinson said the project, if approved, would be constructed in six phases. “We’re looking for alternatives where you can build housing that is integrative, an 8 or 6 unit complex on a street, not a metropolis,” he said. He envisioned single family detached homes, town houses, or cottage homes. He said today’s new home buyers, “don’t want maintenance of their lawns, they don’t mind living close to other people, and they don’t mind shared outdoor space.”

The houses would be grouped together but not adjacent to businesses, he added.

The Wilkinson Group in the past has created Stonegate, a subdivision off Sanderson Road, and Summerfield Village in Botetourt. The company also was responsible for the recent renovation of the 1908 Fire Station 1 in the City of Roanoke, Wilkinson said.

He encouraged phone calls from interested citizens or others who had questions.

The text amendments must go before the Planning Commission for approval, and the supervisors asked that the Harvest at Blue Ridge project be heard at the same time as the text amendment, probably early in 2023.

The Board agreed 4-0, with Blue Ridge District Supervisor Billie Martin abstaining and Buchanan District Supervisor Amy White attending virtually, to send the proposed zoning ordinance changes to the Planning Commission.

After the vote, Supervisor Chairman Richard Bailey said that this action “does not indicate a predisposition toward approval. This is simply to move things along for review.”

For more information on this proposed project, visit https://thewilkinsongroupinc.com/harvest-at-blue-ridge

— Anita Firebaugh, Special to The Botetourt Bee