Monday, February 19, 2007
Editorial: Another mountain view
The latest plan for developing Mill Mountain strikes some appealing notes, and also a warning to protect its natural assets.
From the RoundTable blog
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Mill Mountain is a gift to the people of the Roanoke Valley and always should be treated as such. The city should not make a gift of it to business interests.
That said, Roanoke officials ought to give careful consideration to Valley Forward's proposal, floated last week, to allow a modern incarnation of the old Rockledge Inn to be built on the mountain.
The young professionals of Valley Forward say they would have no financial stake in such a project. Their interest, instead, is to promote amenities that would improve the quality of life in the valley in ways that would appeal to young adults. The goal is to entice more people who have grown up here to stay.
Valley Forward also argues that a mountaintop lodge with a view has the potential to make the valley a destination. Not on its own, surely. But it could be a piece that fits into the larger vision of a new-concept Explore Park in one direction and, at the foot of the mountain, a medical college and biomed park -- all still on the drawing board.
Any talk of development on Mill Mountain, though, should focus on whether it would serve the public, and not just through trickle-down economics.
The mountain's stewards should never lose sight of the fact that it is a gift given by businessman Junius Fishburn in the 1940s into the hands of all of the people, for their use and enjoyment.
It is sacred ground to Roanokers who love it just as it is: home to a small, but struggling, children's zoo and a park for low-impact recreation -- walking, biking, picnicking and viewing the valley below from the overlook under the big neon star.
Would a lodge with a fine restaurant, jazz bar and café, all with panoramic views, enhance Roanokers' use of Mill Mountain, or detract from its pleasures? Would all Roanokers be made to feel welcome, or just movers and shakers and dealmakers?
Most critically, would a lodge as envisioned make a small enough footprint that it would not overwhelm and destroy the simple pastimes now enjoyed by many and open to all?
This latest development idea is hardly the first for the mountain and will not be the last. One of its appeals is that advocates insist they would support only a project that fits well with the natural setting.
Any development will have an environmental impact on the parts of the mountain now left natural, however.
And the urge to "do something" with those parts obviously is a powerful human instinct.
City council should move forward with a committee to give the current proposal a thorough and fair review. At the same time, council should commit to a conservation easement on the remainder of the mountain to protect the natural character of Mill Mountain's public land.
Roanoke doesn't want its signature mountain lost to manmade "improvements" over nature.
