Blighted buildings have become an eyesore in Christiansburg, and town staff is moving quickly to remove many of them.
At Tuesday’s town council meeting Building official Jerry Heinline said 11 buildings were identified last year and seven have been demolished or removed.
“We have tried to work with the property owners to remove many of the structures,” he said.
In as many as three cases, the town has accrued the cost of the demolition. Heinline told council Tuesday night, a lien is then placed on the property and the owners are expected to pay the amount back to the town.
“If the town has to cover the money for all of them, it could get costly,” he said.
Some of those original 11 buildings were beyond reasonable repair and were only able to be demolished.
“We try to work with the owners, contacting them and encouraging them to move ahead with the repair or demolishment. But in many cases, it has been hard to find them. At that point, we have to decide if the town will move ahead and take down the building,” he said.
As of Jan. 1, four of the 11 have been demolished, and another one came down this week, Heinline said. Owners have also completed repairs at the other locations.
Four more buildings have been ID’d for 2018-2019. It’s hard, according to Heinline, to identify what structures are blighted. Enforcement is 100 percent complaint-based.
He admitted the town might want to consider a full-time building official to just deal with blighted buildings.
“It’s something that would make a big difference in the town,” he said.
In many of the cases, the structures are unoccupied and pose a danger to the public. The town then makes sure windows and doors are boarded up so people cannot get into the empty building.
Heinline said if staff and council members were to drive around the town, they would see other homes that need to be painted, have gutters repaired or siding replaced.
“Those are all against the town’s building code,” he said.
The director of parks and recreation also updated the governing body on his department’s past service year. Brad Epperley said 575 programs were held this past year with 28,066 participants and 68,406 people attending.
“This includes 69 special events and other programs at our facilities like the recreation center and outdoor Harkrader Sports Complex,” he said.
The report showed 1,267 games were played at Harkrader with an estimated 10,965 players during tournament play with another 43,860 spectators.
According to Epperley, those numbers pointed to 2,115 hotel rooms being reserved in the area by individuals who traveled to our area.
In addition, another 27,000 attended tournament events at the recreation center itself.
Currently, the department shows 6,173 active members.
The recreation department recently received a $226,416 grant for an inclusive playground and challenge course and a $30,000 grant for an Outdoor Court fitness area. As part of the second grant, the town was named a 2019 National Fitness Campaign Healthy City.
Epperley also highlighted the new bikeshare program started two weeks ago. Already, there are 379 active members.
“We have been surprisingly pleased with the numbers so far for the ROAM NRV,” he said.
The program is a joint effort with Virginia Tech and the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Currently, there are two docking stations in Christiansburg at the recreation center and at the New River Valley Mall. Four locations are available in Blacksburg.
Also, the department recently placed a “water station” along the Huckleberry Trail. The service is located at the Cambria Street crossing near the recreation center.
In other matters, council agreed to donate a surplus dump truck to the Montgomery County burn building, which is a joint fire training facility located on Merrimac Road.
The town of Blacksburg recently donated a surplus backhoe to the effort, which is run by the Blacksburg Fire Department.
The governing body also agreed to move ahead with the redesign of a stretch of Roanoke Street between Main and First streets. An additional nine on-street parking spots will be marked along the roadway near the Episcopal Church side of the road, and traffic will be limited to a left and right turn lane. The public will be given a chance to discuss the matter at a future information meeting before any change is made.
Council also took the opportunity to recognize Christiansburg Middle School teacher Kathleen O’Dell, who recently received the Presidential Award for Excellence in mathematics and science teaching.
Sherry Hunter was also honored for her longtime service in the Finance Department.
