Roanoke Council approves Evans Spring plan

After months of heated debate, Roanoke City Council greenlit a development plan for Evans Spring, the largest piece of undeveloped land in the city. The plan, approved March 4 by a 4-3 vote, opens the door for potential economic development of 75 acres of the roughly 151-acre tract, city officials say.

The recommended development scenario produced for the city by Land Planning & Design Associates of Charlottesville would include more than 570,000 square feet of retail space and at least 600 residences.

The plan places an emphasis on neighborhood integration, according to Chris Chittum, Roanoke’s executive director of community development and placemaking. “We want it to be something that does benefit the neighborhood and has a good relationship to it, but also provides things that the neighborhood needs,” he says.

The city’s economic development director, Marc Nelson, says there’s a misconception that adopting the plan is the final word on the property’s development. “There will be further steps once a developer is chosen,” he says.

For one thing, most of the acreage is currently zoned for single-family residential and residential-agricultural. A developer would still need to go through rezoning.

The future of the land — a collection of privately owned parcels owned by separate parties — has been a point of contention in the city for more than a decade. Critics of developing Evans Spring also galvanized prior to the plan being approved.

“Some really wanted no development at all, just leave it alone, and some of that was based on the lack of trust, which … historically goes all the way back to urban renewal,” says Roanoke resident Virginia Sweet, a member of community group Friends of Evans Spring, which is lobbying for the land to be preserved as green space.

The community surrounding the development includes predominantly Black neighborhoods. Some are descendants of Black Roanokers whose property was seized by eminent domain beginning in the 1950s to make room for Interstate 581 and the Roanoke Civic Center.

Roanoke Mayor Sherman Lea Sr., who voted for the plan, stresses the need for ongoing dialogue and collaboration as the project progresses. “We’re going to continue to keep our contact with the community,” Lea says, “and make sure everybody understands there’ll be more community engagement, more community meetings.”

Associate Editor Beth JoJack contributed to this story.