STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

June Andres of Roanoke gives Mike Gamboa, visiting from the Philippines, a tour of Mill Mountain on Friday. Gov. Tim Kaine has announced support for a conservation easement for the mountain.

STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times

Mill Mountain in Roanoke is viewed Friday from the city's Old Southwest neighborhood along First Street and Mountain Avenue. A conservation easement would protect most of the mountain.

Gov. Tim Kaine's announcement Thursday that a conservation easement for Roanoke's iconic Mill Mountain is imminent caught some of those who will be most deeply involved with the project by surprise.

Roger Holnback, executive director of the Western Virginia Land Trust, which would be the direct overseer of the protective easement, said Friday that it was the first he had heard about the proposal to move ahead immediately.

Still, he and others voiced their pleasure that the project got a kick-start from the governor.

Holnback noted that his organization has been promoting the idea of an easement for more than a decade, but he and others expressed doubts that it can be completed as quickly as Kaine predicted.

The governor, during a news conference from an overlook beneath the Mill Mountain Star, said the easement has the unanimous support of the city council and could be completed by the end of the year.

Those who will be preparing the easement documents, however, noted that it is likely to be a complex project involving careful planning, citizen input and approval by several organizations.

They include the council, the land trust and the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the state land trust agency that would co-hold title to the easement.

As recently as 2007, the foundation announced it was not interested in the topmost portion of the mountain, which, it said, "may not be appropriate for a state-held conservation easement due to the existing development and intensive land uses of that property."

Called the "saddle" -- or Zone 1 in the city's Mill Mountain Management Plan of 2006 -- that area includes a zoo, picnic tables, the Discovery Center and the city's signature neon star.

Most of the mountain is already protected by a national historic registry designation as well as deed covenants that date back decades.

Many of the people involved in the easement effort expect those topmost 15 to 20 acres to be excluded from any new conservation attempt.

Steve Buschor, the city's parks and recreation director and one of those who was surprised by the announcement, said that while he will explore all the options the council and city administrator want, his initial reaction is that "I would recommend leaving the saddle alone."

Should that recommendation be adopted, it apparently would leave open the possibility of future development such as the Rockledge restaurant idea promoted by a group of young professionals in 2007.

"We continue to believe Rockledge would be a great fit for the area," Aaron Ewert, one of the founders of Valley Forward, said Friday.

At the same time, he said, "we want to make it clear that we support conservation. ... We're excited about more conservation of acreage in the area."

Although it may have been good luck not to have tried to build a new restaurant as the economic recession was beginning, "We believe there is plenty of room for recreation and green space and Rockledge," he said.

City Councilman Court Rosen also said Friday that he would oppose including that topmost space in an easement.

"We have a developed area on Mill Mountain now, with a zoo and star and parking lots," Rosen said. "To hastily put that into a conservation easement forever is not in the best interest of the city and it's not the way good policy is made.

"It's my belief that in agreeing to the announcement yesterday, a majority of council understood it would not at this time apply to the top 20 acres of the mountain. We're talking slopes, where the trails are."

The restaurant idea drew vociferous public responses on both sides and is likely to be part of the public conversation on how to draw up the conservation easement.

City Councilman Rupert Cutler, an ardent conservationist and a member of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation's board of trustees, expects a lively and instructive public debate as the city considers how to draft the easements restrictions.

"I think you have to have public meetings. This is so important to so many people," he said, noting that he had supported a scaled-back restaurant plan.

"There is a lot of flexibility in creating easements," he said. Council and city staff will need the meetings "to discover the concerns and interests that need to be covered."

Buschor noted that there will likely have to be surveys to define the easement boundaries because the 680-acre park has numerous neighbors. The master plan also will have be carefully examined in order for the park "to identify what the people wanted for the park, and to make sure the [easement] language mirrors that," he said.

Because conservation easements restrict property uses forever, "you either have to be a mind reader or have a crystal ball," Buschor said.

It takes great care to make sure the language doesn't inadvertently restrict or allow uses that are likely to be contrary to future generations' wishes, he said.

Combining all the factors that go into the "due diligence" to create an appropriate ordinance likely means an easement can't be approved before early 2010, Buschor and Cutler agreed.

Cutler noted that the outdoors foundation this week held its last meeting for 2009 and, barring an emergency meeting in December, is unlikely to consider any more easements this year.

The final language for the document likely "won't please everybody" given the politically charged nature of the site, Holnback conceded.

"Some want the entire mountain to be available for economic development," he said. "Others think it is sacred and want to take down everything.

"Somewhere between those is where we might end up with an easement."

His agency, he said, is "pleased to be where we are. We'll help any way we can to facilitate the process to whatever conclusion the property owner, the city, wants."