2008.10.10
Horse farm planned for Hoge property in Blacksburg
A family farm in downtown Blacksburg?
Yes.
Jim Cowan -- known to many readers of The Roanoke Times/roanoke.com as the oft-quoted attorney for Fairmount Properties of Ohio and the First & Main project on South Main Street -- confirmed Friday (Oct. 10) that he and his wife Heather plan to purchase 32 acres off Graves Avenue known as the Hoge property and convert it to a family horse farm.
The property sits just a short walk from the downtown commercial district and adjacent to what is now called the Fiddler's Green subdivision.
The Cowan family, meaning wife and horse enthusiast Heather Cowan, already owns horses but hopes to add at least a couple more to the family stable, her husband said. She plans also to create a migratory bird habitat at a pond under construction on the property. A barn they plan to build will be constructed of "green" building materials, such as earth-friendly bricks made in Floyd.
"But 90 percent of it will remain pasture," Jim Cowan said.
The buzz reporters and editors have been hearing around town indicates many neighbors of the property think a conservation easement put on the land in 1991 by former owner Katherine Hoge bans all development. But that's not the case.
Hoge wanted to protect the agricultural and forestal viewshed of the 32 acres, but the easement specifically allows the property to be used for agriculture, horticulture and silvaculture.
Other development allowed under the easement includes construction of ponds or lakes (by blasting, as long as it doesn't permenantly change the topography of the land), a farm building no bigger than 10,000 square feet and no taller than two stories, private roads to reach existing buildings and the installation of underground utilities. The easement also allows some low-impact logging.
Interestingly, the easement does not open the property for public use, such as dog walking and other uses to which I've seen residents put it in my nearly 20 years in the town. I think I may have in the ignorance of youth trespassed on that property myself, along with my two dogs. In fact, Blacksburg Zoning Administrator Andrew Warren said public access trails are disallowed on the property under the easement.
The family's barn would be much smaller -- according to Warren about 2,500 square feet -- than the allowed size and would have up to six horse stalls, a hayloft, tack room, etc. It will not be a commercial operation, Cowan said.
Under state code, no more than 15 horses may be boarded on the property, Warren said.
Blacksburg Town Council is the conservator of the land and is responsible for enforcement of the easement. The Cowans have been working with town planning officials on design of the pond and other features.
The property is assessed for tax purposes at $47,700, according to town land records. Assessments for property put under conservation easements are generally low, as tax breaks are a major incentive for restricting development to preserve farmland in Virginia.
-- Tonia Moxley
