Group pushes for preservation of open space
Matt Busse
mbusse@newsadvance.com
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Members of the Smith Mountain Lake Association hope their involvement in planned lake projects will lead to a “higher standard” of development, an association director said.
The association has roughly 1,400 family memberships. Representatives last year began meeting with developers while their projects were in the early stages, offering feedback and suggestions.
Bill Brush, who serves on the association’s board of directors, said members hope to encourage developers whose projects preserve open space and have relatively little impact on the lake-area environment.
“When development comes in and just carves up the county and everybody gets a one- or two-acre lot, there’s no open space,” Brush said. “If development’s done right with real responsible developers, the impact to the county can be positive.”
Development around the 20,000-acre lake can be controversial. Residents sometimes are wary of projects they think will ruin the lake’s scenic beauty.
Last year, lake association members met with developers of Downtown Moneta, a planned 85-acre “traditional neighborhood development,” and LakeWatch Plantation, a proposed 479-acre complex of homes and commercial properties.
More recently, they met with partners in Optima Properties, which plans a 79-acre neighborhood called The Coves for Franklin County.
The discussions provide valuable early input on what lake residents want and don’t want, said John Merritt, a general partner with Optima.
“I think the association represents a major interest group on the lake … It’s very good to get their feedback of what the people on the lake would like to see,” Merritt said.
For example, the association offered suggestions on how Optima could improve its plans, Merritt said.
“One of the very great suggestions they gave us was using some extra techniques to handle soil and erosion getting into the lake,” Merritt said.
The association endorsed The Coves at a Franklin County Planning Commission meeting earlier this month.
“The biggest service that we can provide is when we can get the public together in an informative, constructive meeting with developers,” Brush said.
Association representatives also plan to meet with a fourth developer soon, whom Brush declined to name because he said he is unfamiliar with the project.
