| Sharla Bardin

sharla.bardin@roanoke.com, 381-1669

BLACKSBURG -- A proposal for apartments and a religious and cultural services center at 102 Mountain Breeze Drive has been revised again minus one thing -- the apartments.

Developer Mani Ranjan of Radford said Tuesday that the request for multifamily uses at the site has been withdrawn. However, he is moving forward with his conditional-use permit requests for the religious and cultural services center.

The Blacksburg Town Council discussed the project in Tuesday's work session. The proposal was scheduled to come before them Nov. 10, but council members supported sending the request back to the planning commission, since the proposal has been revised.

Ranjan said the request for a conditional-use permit for the multifamily dwelling use was withdrawn Oct. 22.

"Maybe we need to come up with a different idea," he said.

The move came after the planning commission recommended denial of the multifamily use Oct. 6. However, the commission recommended approval of the cultural services and religious assembly use.

Ranjan's proposal was to construct 36 apartments in three two-story buildings and a two-story building for the religious and cultural services center. The center will offer space for religious activities, as well as a library and space for yoga and a meditation center.

Some of the concerns that have been expressed by residents and planning commissioners about the multifamily aspect of the project is that the apartment buildings did not fit in with the character of the area that is primarily single-family homes. Residents and planning commissioners have also expressed concern about the potential stormwater runoff from the project.

Ranjan's recent request before the planning commission was tweaked from his initial proposal to town officials.

In May, Ranjan proposed to develop two three-story buildings with a maximum of 50 bedrooms. He also proposed the Indian cultural center as part of the project.

However, in July, Ranjan withdrew the requests for the multifamily dwellings and the cultural center after the planning commission recommended then that the council deny the conditional-use permit for the multifamily dwellings.

Ranjan said now his plans are to construct the religious and cultural services center, which he thinks will be beneficial for the Indian community in the area.

"I want to just get this done for the community," he said.