Roanoke Times Poll Results For Countryside

What should the council do with the Countryside property?

Keep it as a golf course
313
(88.67%)

Sell it
33
(9.35%)

Other
7
(1.98%)

Total Replies : 353

City Council to Be Briefed Monday

"I think it was a mistake to even try to do something with it in the first place," Nash said. "But the city backed into a situation, whether they intended to or not, where they have a municipal course, and hopefully they can get it right this time."

~Alvin Nash quoted by Mason Adams in his Roanoke Times article August 3


The Roanoke Times ran a piece in the newspaper today. In his article Mason Adams raised three primary questions that may be batted around.

• Does the council want to take another shot at development or leave it for recreation?

• If the latter, then should it be used for athletic fields, passage for the Lick Run Greenway or maybe even an aquatic facility with swimming pools?

• And if the council does want to stick with the 18-hole golf course, then who manages it? Meadowbrook? The city? Or should it issue a request for proposals?

Representatives of Countryside Neighborhood Alliance and Save Countryside will be on hand to monitor the discussion. We'll post a report here after the meeting.

Countryside Golf Course - The Top FIVE

According to the Roanoke Times - Countryside Golf Course course was chosen "among the five best courses in Timesland anyone can play." Read the Sports article below posted with the permission of The Roanoke Times - I especially like the first sentence:

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"Check this out, Roanoke City bigwigs. According to the voters here, this golf course should stay put and not be buried under some sort of development project. While the city-owned course hasn’t had enough money to keep it in A-1 condition for years, there’s little argument that Countryside has one of the best layouts in the area. It was good enough to play host to a VPGA Open in 1981, won by Bobby Wadkins. Designed by Ellis Maples, the course’s five par 3s from the tips may be second to none as a group in this area in degree of difficulty."

12th Green

Ellis Maples created a gem of a routing here, with several of the area’s best holes. In fact, [Nos.] 16, 9, and 12 may be the best par 3, 4, and 5 in Roanoke.” — Wade Whitehead, former Patrick Henry High golf coach

Business Leadership Fund PAC

The Business Leadership Fund Political Action Committee is the political lobby for the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce. On it's website are various plans - one of which is for Countryside indexed under "Quality of Life". CLICK HERE!

From the PAC's website:

"There's an old saying that if you're in business, you're in politics. As a taxpayer and employer, you know that local government philosophy and policy represent a significant cost to you and your customers. Decisions made in local government affect your business. Shouldn't you have a say in the process?

Finding pro-business candidates and helping them win election to local office is the best way to protect your livelihood and your investment."

CLICK HERE for more on this PAC.

Why am I bothering to post the obvious?

Answer: The Roanoke Times DataSphere (Matt Chittum) has made it a point to question where the thousands of dollars for the "Joe Smith" ad came from and just who are the Citizens for Sensible Decisions (CSD). "Who gave it? How much? What precisely did it buy?"

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This titillating topic of sinister political scandal will end with a disappointing fizzle. "Joe Smith" is Wishneff. Wishneff = CSD. Money came from Wishneff, THE END.

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The real funny part is Matt asking "What precisely did it buy?" Hey, maybe it bought re-erection of Victory Stadium? CLICK HERE for registration of Citizens For Sensible Stadium Decisions.

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Matt, how about asking what "precisely" did the thousands of dollars from the Business Leadership Fund PAC "buy"?

The Roanoke Times, Laurence Hammock, Received FOI Advisory Opinion

FOI Advisory Council Opinion AO-04-08: <- Click Here for the opinion in it's entirety

AO-04-08April 18, 2008 Laurence Hammock, The Roanoke Times, Roanoke, Virginia

The staff of the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is authorized to issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the information presented in your electronic mail of March 10, 2008 and March 26, 2008. Dear Mr. Hammock: You have asked whether a closed meeting convened by the Roanoke City Council (the Council) was held in violation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The quoted agenda item describes the purpose of the closed meeting and cites the applicable exemption, but does not identify the subject matter of the meeting. FOIA sets forth no requirements for the contents of agendas or of particular agenda items, so the fact that this agenda item fails to identify the subject is not a FOIA violation. However, it is a common practice to use the same language in an agenda as is used in the actual motion to convene a closed meeting. If the motion to convene the closed meeting was identical to the quoted agenda item, then that motion would fail to satisfy the requirement of subsection A of § 2.2-3712 to identify the subject matter of the closed meeting. A motion to convene a closed meeting must contain all three elements (subject, purpose, and citation) in order to comply with FOIA; a motion that lacks any of these elements is insufficient under the law. 5 This office has previously advised that it is best to include in the minutes all motions to convene closed meetings and the certifications thereof by quoting such motions and certifications verbatim. This practice leaves no doubt as to whether the motions were made or what were the contents of such motions and certifications. 6 While no violation is apparent here, I set forth these reminders to help guide future practices. Second, as an additional matter, note that subsection D of § 2.2-3712, concerning the certification of closed meetings, also sets forth the procedure a member of a public body should follow if he or she feels a closed meeting has been held improperly:
At the conclusion of any closed meeting, the public body holding such meeting shall immediately reconvene in an open meeting and shall take a roll call or other recorded vote to be included in the minutes of that body, certifying that to the best of each member's knowledge (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under this chapter and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by the public body. Any member of the public body who believes that there was a departure from the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii), shall so state prior to the vote, indicating the substance of the departure that, in his judgment, has taken place. The statement shall be recorded in the minutes of the public body. While minutes of this meeting were not provided and do not appear to be available on the Council's website at this time, 7 the agenda report that is available online 8 states that Council Members Dowe and Wishneff left during the closed session. Nothing is stated as to why these members left the closed meeting. Based on the facts you provided, it does not appear that any member made a statement concerning a departure from the closed meeting requirements as provided for in subsection D of § 2.2-3712. You indicated that Mr. Wishneff left in protest due to his belief that the closed meeting was being held in violation of the law. However, nothing in the available records of this meeting makes clear that his departure was a protest - the records simply state that he left. I would point out that in such a situation, members may be better advised to follow the procedure set out in FOIA.

April 16th - "Shine Your Light" On Mill Mountain

Everyone wanting to make a gesture of remembrance come to the Mill Mountain Star at 7:45PM, Wednesday, April 16th. BRING YOUR FLASHLIGHT or other illumination and shine it into the darkness as Joe Lehman put it so well below. William Fleming Teachers and students will be present to remember Henry Lee, the 2006 William Fleming graduate who was killed that day. For some of us it is not yet behind us. CLICK HERE FOR Henry Lee's STORY from the Roanoke Times.

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Part of text from Father Joe Lehman, Easter, 2008:

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"As of March 18 this year, the Tuesday before Easter, I had nothing I was stuck. But that changed that evening when I sat down with that morning's Roanoke Times. On the front page of the Virginia section a tiny article announced what "The Star City" planned to do on April 6th in observance of the first anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech; namely, "to leave the mountain's 88 ft. neon star turned off".

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"It's a noble and touching gesture and one we did "before when the star was briefly extinguished after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001." It's a noble and touching gesture but is it the right one. Why would we want to confront the darkness in life and mark a tragedy like that of April 16 with more darkness! Should we not flood the memorializing of that terrible day with light ... with lots of bright, healing and comforting light! Should not "The Star City" instead of darkening its signature sign ... its brand, also light tiny stars in memory of those who lost lives that day but whose shining lights could not/can never be extinguished!

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I think back to what the students did on the drill field the night of the shooting and on the nights that followed. They lit candles. They were silently present to each other. Someone broke the silence with an unrehearsed "Amazing Grace" which quickly spread, as tears were shed and dried and as fears were shared. I remember, too, what our valley did at Victory Stadium the night of September 12, 2001 with the great help and blessing of the city, under the leadership of the Roanoke Valley (interfaith) Ministers Conference.

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We gathered to proclaim the scriptures - Psalm 27, to be exact., "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear". We prayed our goodbyes ..... We also lit candles ... passing the light - scattering the darkness of the night and the darkness in each other's lives ... "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness"..... We confront the darkness with light. We break the silence with and by our presence.

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Joe Lehman is Pastor of Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church.

Letter to the Editor Favoring Countryside As A Municipal Golf Course

Today's Letter to the Editor in The Roanoke Times:

Municipal golf course is a better investment

The Feb. 19 commentary by Valerie Garner "Chipping away at Countryside" exposed the narrow-minded approach of Roanoke city government and city council members to the valuable asset and potential of the Countryside Golf Course.

The city should not turn a blind eye to this potential cash cow for Roanoke and the future generations that could enjoy one of the last green refuges in a sea of expanding industrial development and asphalt. The city's plan for a real estate development with $400,000-plus homes is unrealistic now with the ever-mounting inventory of homes on the market and the mortgage industry going belly up.

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Why not look north at the Baltimore solution adopted more than 20 years ago? The Baltimore Municipal Golf Corp. began in 1985 with a loan of $500,000 from the city and since invested more than $6.5 million in capital improvements to the five city courses and donated more than $4 million to city youth programs. The courses are great and readily accessible to the general public.

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As you enter the Shenandoah Valley into Roanoke off Interstate 81 onto Interstate 581, let there be an attractive municipal Countryside Golf Course available to all.

JOHN W. SMITH
BOONES MILL

Homeowners Have Right To Expect Golf Course To Continue

In today's Roanoke Times article: "Botetourt Co. supervisors vote to preserve golf course" - Supervisor Steve Clinton said residents who purchased homes next to the golf course land proposed for a change of use had every right to "expect a golf course to remain a golf course."

Now let us see Roanoke City's Council feel the same way about it's residents at Countryside Golf Course who paid a premium to live adjacent to the open green space that this golf course provides.

Roanoke City Council needs vision to build on this attraction to city, county, state, and out-of-state citizens that come to the City of Roanoke, stay at the airport hotels and spend a day on this golf course. What better way to advertise Roanoke City. If Council had any vision this golf course could be used to attract those visitors who don't get past Valley View Mall to venture downtown and to the new art museum.

The Roanoke Times - December 1982

Roanoke takes option to buy golf course for $1.5 million

- By Mag Poff, Senior Writer - December 28, 1982

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Roanoke City Council has taken an option on Countryside Golf Course as part of a deal for purchase of 14 parcels from the same owners for airport use.

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Councilman James Trout, chairman of the Economic Development Commission, said it will use the 120-day option to negotiate with any developers who want to swap industrial land for the residential land at the golf course.

The Option permits the city to buy the land from Builders Investment Group of Philadelphia for $1.5 million.

Trout said the city will not operate the golf course, which lies along Interstate 581, nor will it attempt to develop the 174 acres for industry.

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Council, after a 20-minute executive session Monday, unanimously gave formal approval to taking of the option under the plan proposed by Trout.

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Trout said the consideration for the option is the $133,800 price the city will pay to buy the 14 parcels for airport protection and development. The Fedral Aviation Administration will reimburse 80 percent of that cost and the state another 10 percent.

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The land will be acquired by the end of this week. Trout said the city needs the 14 parcels for the airport regardless of any interest in the option.

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But as part of the deal, the Philadelphia owners also agreed to give the city an option, to last four months, to buy the golf course for $1.5 million.

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Should the city pick up the option, Trout said, the $133,800 payment for the 14 parcels will become a credit against the $1.5 million price, reducing it by that amount.

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Under the plan, the city would swap the golf course land for the industrial land. The golf course could be developed for condominiums, apartments or other use consistent with residential zoning.

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(So what happened after this - mystery Philadelphia owners? Obviously the golf course was not purchased/swapped ... we would not be here now if they had followed through with the option to purchase Countryside Golf Course. Another short-sighted decision? More to come from Stephanie Moon, Roanoke City Clerk, and minutes of the Council meetings during this time.)

The difference between then and now besides 25 years, $2.6 million, and less land is that - WE LIVE HERE NOW! As many as 100 homes have been built since then. The Countryside Drive homes in about 1998 and Mattaponi between the 10th and 12th fairways from 1999 - 2002. A. Byron Smith on Cheraw Lake in 1984 as well as new homes on Lewiston and Laurel Ridge. All of us bought to be on the open green space of a golf course and not crammed into a dense housing development. We bought and built here because it was "something special". All the while we were unknowingly moving in - Roanoke City was "knowingly" planning our demise. The City then does not understand why we feel so betrayed. The time to buy the property is past ... it is too late ... citizen's property will be diminished and their quality of life will suffer. As I mentioned earlier the business community does not want to see it developed for a different reason. They want it saved for expansion of runway 6 so Roanoke does not loose another opportunity like Dell Computers who would have located here if 747s could have taken off from Roanoke Regional Airport. We support their reason as well. CLICK HERE FOR THE DELL ROANOKE TIMES ARTICLE.

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** A big "thank you" to Belinda Harris, The Roanoke Times Librarian, for sending the clipping.

New Art Museum Poll

Vote here on whether you think the Art Museum will be a BOOM to downtown bringing tourists and dollars to Roanoke City? Or will it be a BUST and suck money from Roanoke City taxpayers?

Will the Art Museum be named after Taubman as The Roanoke Times article "Couple give $15 million to museum" suggests - "The Taubman Museum of Western Virginia"?

CLICK HERE FOR The New York Times Sunday article on the museum.

Regarding my prior post "Looking Back 25 Year - Countryside Golf Course" - I am waiting for a response from Stephanie Moon, our Roanoke City Clerk for minutes of the December 1982 Council meetings regarding Countryside Golf Course. Belinda Harris, the Roanoke Times Librarian, is sending me clippings from the period as well. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the help of good people like our Roanoke City Clerk and Belinda Harris.

Ward System For Governing Roanoke City

A history lesson for those not around in 1997.

CLICK TO ENLARGE MAP

The Headline in the Roanoke Times November 5, 1997 read:

"ROANOKE VOTERS SAY NO TO WARDS"

After finding the above map online I became curious as to what happened to this STUPENDOUS idea. All search engines came up empty. I could find no articles associated with this map. Matt Chittum of the Roanoke Times to the rescue! Matt sent an original article printed on November 5th, 1997 - the day after the ward idea was sunk - 54 percent against to 46 percent for the ward system. If you have not visited Matt's "DataSphere" you are missing some good stuff. At least to us "geeks" that are always hungry for another bite out of a "pie chart".

According to the November 5th, 1997, Roanoke Times article it took TWENTY years - yes that is "2 0" years to get a ward system on the city ballot.

Some things never change. The article could have been easily written in 2007 just the same as it was in 1997 (10 years ago). Just as in 1997 we have a business lobby pulling the strings. This quote from the 1997 article is just as today:

"I hope this puts the ward system to bed for a long time," said Bill Poff, the lawyer who was co-chairman of the business-backed committee that lobbied against wards.

Two South Roanoke precincts went against wards 2-to-1. The vote was still closer then expected.

The Roanoke Times article continues:

Audrey Wheaton, the retired social worker who headed One Roanoke Inc. with Poff, said "Our citizens are confident in our present form of local government."

Under the modified wards proposal, the city would have been split into five wards. A council member would have been elected from each ward, and the mayor and vice mayor would have been elected at-large. Instead, all seven council members continued to be elected at-large.

Gary Waldo, a leader of the pro-ward faction, faulted Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt, labor union members and civic leagues for failing to speak out for wards.

City government studied ward proposals twice before, in 1977 and 1992, but this was the first referendum on wards.

More than any city campaign in years, the wards vote brought the city's establishment into open conflict with scrappy, populist types such as the Roanoke Education Association and the NAACP. Powerful lawyers, wealthy Roanokers and business executives worked hard against wards. They noted that voters who now get to cast ballots for all seven council members would have had just three votes under a ward system - ones for the candidate from their ward and one each for mayor and vice mayor.

Ward detractors also called forth an image of Chicago in the days of ex-Mayor Richard Daley - a city of back-room deals and corrupt, cigar-chomping, ward-healing politicians. They warned that council members would be fighting over provincial matters within ward borders instead of promoting the larger interests of the city.

Advocates said that was just fear-mongering that obscured the ward-bashers' real worry - that neighborhoods would steal power from a privileged few already pulling strings in the back rooms of government.

The pro-ward camp said neighborhoods have gotten little personal attention from council members and that members are not held accountable for their treatment of neighborhoods. Ward advocates pointed out that some sections of town, most notably Southeast Roanoke, have not had a representative on council for decades.

But Southeast voters supported wards by only a scant margin.

Members of Bill Bestpitch's Committee for Better Representation, the pro-ward group of which he is chairman, said at a gathering at his house Tuesday night that city administrators tried to make the wards issue confusing to voters. "They fought us every step of the way," said Lisa Farthing, also a member of the city task force that drew up a ward proposal to take to voters.

"It was a huge threat," Waldo said of the ward proposal, "because for too long the affluent, the elite, the people in the southern tier of the city have controlled everything."

Even though the railroad no longer dominates the city, Roanoke still operates as a company town, Bestpitch said.

Waldo said the ward proponents were outfinanced by One Roanoke Inc. While that group used a public relations firm, placed numerous newspaper ads and produced slick materials, "all we had were some TV ads paid by one of our friends, our brochures" and volunteers traveling all over the city to speak to civic leagues and church groups.

At polling places in Southeast Roanoke Tuesday, People would be voting for neighborhood interests, not for the city as a whole, said a middle-aged man. "Roanoke has too little progress as it is."

Bud Chisom, a 67-year-old truck driver and former city firefighter, voted for wards. He said he did it because too many council members are clumped together in South and Southwest Roanoke. "They get the honey and we get the rest," he said. "You'd have a whole lot better chance of representation, instead of a guy sitting out yonder in a rich section of town. He might never have driven through Southeast."

"We just don't have a mouthpiece is what it amounts to," said Southeast resident Howard Spangler, 61.

BREAKING NEWS!!! Council Rejects Developer

Councilman Lea says of the developer's plan "it was horrible ... just horrible".

Listen to the WFIR clip and Councilman Lea's apology to the citizens of Countryside...
CLICK HERE

From the Roanoke Times:

City rejects Countryside Golf Course plan
- The Roanoke Times

Roanoke's government has rejected a development plan for Countryside Golf Course because the latest version, submitted last week, was "totally unacceptable," City Manager Darlene Burcham said today.
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The city now will discuss what to do with the golf course and will hold a work session for city council members some time soon. One option is continuing to lease the 18-hole course to the current operator.
[Let us hope for an OPEN dialogue concerning the fate of our neighborhood]
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The developers had altered plans first made public in April by reducing the amount of housing, adding more athletic fields and a adding a big-box commercial development to the project. Neighbors of the course had criticized the plans in May and the city asked the developers for revisions.
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The six council members present this morning all spoke during the meeting and agreed with the city administration's recommendation to have nothing further to do with this development team.
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This was the second attempt to find a private-sector partner to develop the 140 acres in Northwest Roanoke, which the city bought for $4.1 million in 2005 with a goal of adding more housing and commercial development. The project was being planned by Triangle Development of Richmond, the Victor Foti Co. and Allegheny Construction of the Roanoke Valley, and Mike Morgan Engineering of Midlothian.
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Mr. Townsend has the plans to be picked up. I will have the developer's plans as soon as I can make arrangements. According to the Council meeting and Ms. Burcham's comments the Golf Course was eliminated in its entirety and ball fields and the like were in its place ... unacceptable use of the RPZ by the FAA. Also, it was stated that there was a "big box" store location in the plan. If at all possible I will post it here if the Roanoke Times is unable to print it. In any case I WILL have it at National Night Out picnic at the pavilion.

PS: There is other highly promising information I will share Tuesday evening.

Shine the Light: Open Your Eyes

The Roanoke Times weighed in this morning on the veil of secrecy that has covered the Countryside "Development" fiasco. The Times suggests that the city should lift that veil. That would have been the right thing to do. We feel that when the veil is lifted, City Deciders and the Roanoke Times editorial board need to rethink their support for the destructive development.

You can read the latest from the Roanoke Times right here. Please feel free to disagree with them.

Veiled Position

You can choose to disagree with them in our comment section or on the Roanoke Times Round Table.

Letter to Editor

Jim Skinner of Roanoke had a letter to the editor posted in today's Roanoke Times.

In the letter Jim brings up several excellent points. One of his primary points is that many localities have municipal golf courses for their citizens. According to his research, Virginia Beach alone has eleven courses and Fairfax has nine.

Mr. Skinner also suggested that the course be restored and upgraded to take advantage of opportunities for tournament action and play from visitors and business people.

His greatest point in my opinion is...

Once this course is developed, it will be gone forever.

Tallyho!

Lining up a birdie putt on the 6th hole

Tallyho!

A Commentary

“Groundbreaking for the nation's newest golf retreat will be conducted Thursday.

Guess where it's happening, folks? How about right here.”

So opens Randy King, sports reporter at The Roanoke Times, in his weekend feature piece on the new Ballyhack Golf Retreat in Roanoke County. For me, the new course sounds like heaven. Any course with the word ball and hack in the name suggest lots of lost golf balls, and I’m one who enjoys hunting for them.

The Ballyhack course, however, will not be built for hacks. It will be a true championship course, one of the best links courses in the country. While links courses were originally developed in Scotland near the seashore, they’ve evolved into a style of course which utilizes open spaces, mounds, uneven fairways, and deep pot bunkers. In other words, the course utilizes the natural lay of the land. Ballyhack will do that, too.

The new course in Roanoke County is being marketed nationally. Only about 60 local memberships are being sought while 200 national members are being hunted. The founders of the course plan to market the course as a business retreat for the high-powered rollers across the country.

Why would someone want to come out to Roanoke to play golf? Randy King suggests the reasons in his article. Corporate business people are searching for places to play that are out of the mainstream, away from the hustle of the big city. Roanoke is attractive because it’s a nestled community far from the reach of unchecked urban sprawl and it’s close to Scottish Highland-like peace. In addition, “A terrific golf course is what makes the draw,” said Roanoke native Jonathan Ireland, [Ballyhack’s] director of golf operations.

Destination: Roanoke.

Reason: Golf.

Travel: Corporate and Commercial Air.

Accommodations: Local Hotel and onsite.

Local Business Impact: Definitely

With a steady stream of high profile golfers migrating to the region to play Ballyhack, these golfers will certainly be looking around for more to do. Perhaps they will visit Mill Mountain. Certainly they’ll eat out at some local fine restaurants. They’ll shop at our city market. Maybe they’ll ride a trolley. Perhaps they’ll visit the new art museum. Very likely, however, these visitors will be looking for places to play more golf. As they arrive in our Magic City, they’ll pass over a wide swatch of green space as they are landing, a golf course. They’ll become curious. They’ll investigate and then invest. If the city favors the wise course of developing Countryside into a fine Municipal golf course (Torrey Pines) and recreation area, our visitors will spend an afternoon on a round of fine golf before they return to their world. Soon, word will spread of a golf-friendly community rich in peace, charm, and golf nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. That’s my vision. That’s what I can see as being possible. None of that can happen if Roanoke City decides to squander its opportunity. Developing the Countryside property as a municipal golf course and recreation facility makes sense from a community, environmental, and business standpoint.

Let’s Talk Recreation

"I would love for us to be able to address a nice recreation center in the Northwest area,” Dowe said. “I'm not sure where in Northwest, but I'd certainly like to see us address that first.”

So begins Mason Adams in his July 22 edition of the Roanoke Times news piece.

I can suggest a place for Mr. Dowe’s recreation center. How about right next to William Fleming High School allowing for easy access to ½ the teenaged population in Roanoke City? How about including golf, swimming, tennis, biking, running, and walking in to the recreation center concept? How about fully utilizing the current space occupied by the Countryside pool, tennis courts and empty space between those and the high school for the recreation center hub? Why not? It just takes a vision and a will.

Having a recreation center next to William Fleming makes perfect sense for the Countryside property, much more sense than a large scale residential, high-density housing, commercial development now being contemplated.

A recreation center operated by city parks and recreation next to the high school will afford the youth of the city access to a wide variety of wholesome pursuits. Combined with open access to all city residents from all age groups, this multigenerational center could become a true anchor for the Northwest and a golden feather in the city’s cap. Why not? It just takes a vision and a will.

Defending a Roanoke Times Reporter

I bet you have never read a headline like that anywhere.

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The Roanoke Times article today written by Mason Adams was very well written and accurate. However, reporters do not and let me emphasize DO NOT write their headlines. The reporter writes his story and their editor attaches the headline. So Mason Adams’ well written story was brutalized by a FALSE headline. Nothing in Mason’s story eluded to “Name tied to course’s fate”. It is not a quote. It was not even brought up by anyone in the article. The editor just pulled it out of his ahhh ... bucket of headline grabbing personal opinion bunk. The "course's fate" stands on it's own. The name change would have been an honor.

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The sad thing is people read the headlines and draw their conclusion from a headline without reading the story. A headline sets the tone for an entire article. I asked for a retraction of the headline as it was a false statement. As anyone who has been following the Countryside property issue knows our community has spent the last 2 years in opposition to development of this treasured city asset. Actually I have not met one citizen who favors developing the property.

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You don't suppose it was the same editor that wrote the editorial accusing the Countryside neighborhood of "bellyaching" do you? There is supposed to be a wall between the editorial staff and the news staff. I am guessing it was a coincidence that Shanna Flowers wrote about the same topic on the same day.

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City Council is under the impression that the golf course is losing money. This is not true. Show us the figures. Show us the number of rounds of play. Try to get a tee time on the weekends. Meadowbrook is under orders from City Administration to not disclose any of this information publicly. This begs the question where did Mr. Fitzpatrick get the information that the course was losing money when Meadowbrook themselves in a letter to City Administration stated "Countryside is one of their most profitable golf courses". Meadowbook continued by saying "the golf course would create an excellent source of revenue for the City". I am posting below the 2006 budget submitted by Meadowbrook to City management. This is a link to my previous posts regarding documents.

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CLICK HERE for to see the letter from Ed Hall on how to “convince” the owner’s of Countryside Golf Course to sell by advising the airport commission to NOT renew the lease of the runway protection zone property used for fairways.

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CLICK HERE to see the 2006 budget and profit submitted to City management by Meadowbrook showing a $240,000 profit (adding back the $40,000 real estate tax that they do not have to pay since the City owns it now).

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CLICK HERE to see the Feasibility Study in 2003 and the negatives for developing the property.

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Read the Planning Commission agenda for Thursday, July 19th, item "J". Mr. Fitzpatrick wants to dip into the "name change" well too .... so I guess the headline should read "Name tied to Special Events Center's fate".

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City Planning Commission Agenda Item "J":

Discussion of the referral by City Council to name Countryside Golf Course after the late Roy Stanley Miller and to name the Roanoke Civic Center Special Events Center after the Honorable Linwood Holton and the late Honorable Elbert Lee Trinkle, former Virginia Governors from Roanoke.

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Not holding my breath for a retraction of the headline.

Golf Course Fate NOT tied to Name Change

The renaming of Countryside in memory of Roy Stanley Miller is becoming a distraction to the vision Countryside Neighborhood Alliance has for the revitalization of the championship Countryside Golf Course. I will be writing more on the Roanoke Times article later. However, I wanted to assure all that our vision for the property has not changed since Roanoke City purchased the Countryside property in November, 2005.
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Please continue to sign our petition to support Countryside remaining a PUBLIC championship golf course, retaining the indoor tennis building, and creating a world class indoor competition pool.
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PS: We have a paper petition with 700 signatures to date supporting our vision that does not include a name change.

Preserve the Green Space

A Look Down the 18th Hole

Valerie Garner recently had an op-ed piece published by The Roanoke Times. In her piece, she makes a strong case for preserving and enhancing our treasure, Countryside Golf Course.

Voicing your feelings regarding the City's ill-conceived development plans is vital to keeping the issue alive. One place you can visit to do that is the Roanoke Times Message Boards.

Finally, keep in mind that this site welcomes comments and statements of support. All you have to do is click the comment link at the bottom of any blog entry.

Dream Hole

Dream Hole

Randy King of the Roanoke Times has put together “The Dream 18” in the Sunday April 15, 2007 edition of The Roanoke Times. In the multimedia piece, Randy talks about the best 18 holes of golf in the Timesland area. The list is quite exclusive as it includes holes from Pete Dye’s River Course in Radford, Sam Snead’s Homestead, and other prestigious courses. Countryside is represented on the dream course with the fearful #16.

This hole is quite the challenge. King points out that you can’t miss it short and you can’t miss it long. I would also add that the only place to miss it is in the trap right behind the green or in a little flat area directly across the lake.

A golfer on this hole tees off from an elevated green and tries to hit a relatively narrow green down below on the other side of a fairly wide lake/pond. The X factor on the hole is wind. It always seems to funnel through the natural valley between the tee and the green most often blowing left to right. This really messes with club selection on a hole that its imperative to know your distance.

Randy has chosen wisely by putting this hole on his Dream 18. I think he could have chosen several other Countryside holes. Specifically, # 7 and 17.

Here’s what Countryside (take the “course tour”) says about #7

“At 510 Yards, #7 is one of the most difficult Par 5’s on the course. Your aiming points are the two fairway bunkers guarding the left side of the fairway. Your driver will do fine on this hole which features a fairway that slopes left to right. Ike’s Creek guards the right side of the hole, but really only comes into play up near the green. A solid second shot should leave you with a short iron into this elongated green. Favor the left side of the green because Ike’s Creek guards the entire right side of the green.”

Here’s what they say about #17

“#17 is a 450-yard par 5 with a lateral hazard all along the left side. Favor the right side of the fairway on this uphill par 5. The fairway slopes from right to left. You have a real chance to get home in two on this hole. If you do elect to lay up, you want to favor the left side of the fairway on your second shot. This will take the greenside bunker out of play and leave you with an easy pitch to this left to right sloping green. #17 is another real opportunity for a birdie 4.”

I think the description of the fairway as sloping “…from right to left….” Really undersells the effect. This hole kills me every time I play it.