Brief but significant, the Aug. 28 Blacksburg Town Council meeting lasted fewer than seven minutes, but demonstrated a council’s role in local, regional and state decision-making.
A notice announces a Sept. 4 Planning Commission public hearing on rezoning grassy 22 acre Old Blacksburg Middle School property. That recommendation will be sent to the Town Council, which will vote to accept or reject rezoning Sept. 25.
Within three minutes, the council entered into an agreement among the town, the county board of supervisors and the county’s sheriff’s office in “furnishing law enforcement services.”
The updating of a long-standing mutual aid agreement the county sheriff’s office has with all localities in the county allows the town police to come outside of their jurisdictions to assist the county when requested during an emergency.
Quickly thereafter, the council scheduled for Sept. 25, a much-anticipated public hearing on the ordinances to rezone the 22-acre old Blacksburg Middle School site (Ordinances 1866 and 1875) prominently located on South Main Street.
Having weighed Planning Commission and citizen input collected since early this year, the council will vote that night to approve or deny the Midtown Development Partners’ proposal of a sleek, contemporary mix of commercial, retail, office, restaurant and residential uses at the central crossroads, literally and figuratively, of Main and Eheart Streets.
Since last autumn, community discussion about how the town will be defined, Blacksburg citizens living near, and not so near the property, have weighed in at public hearings, Facebook pages and 24 pages of emails submitted to the council, expressing concerns about traffic, distorted scale and architectural sustainability and aesthetics.
Others, including many local small-business people, have expressed support for the development, the foot traffic and access it is hoped to bring, despite what is predicted to be ten years of construction to complete the multi-phase development.
Should the rezoning not be approved, the current R-4 designation calls for low-density residential housing, but no community input.
Moving on, and registering tepid approval, the council, in a 4-3 vote, resolved to support Smart Scale Program funding for the extension of the Smart Road to Interstate 81. This is the second funding cycle.
“The price tag is really hefty,” councilman Michael Sutphin said.
“I think it’s far too expensive,” councilwoman Susan Anderson said.
Susan Mattingly described her support as “ambivalent in light of the substantial price tag.” During discussion, she explained that, while she recognized the importance of being a team player in the region, she felt support for this mammoth project was not in keeping with the town’s financing priorities.
Referencing the Rt. 460/N. Main Street re-direction project, she said,
“We have on the north end of town a situation that is a Band-Aid for a dangerous intersection and I want to make sure that any project we get behind doesn’t jeopardize a long-term solution to that situation.”
“Well said,” responded Mayor Leslie Hagar-Smith.
Of the seven council members, Anderson, Lauren Colliver and Mattingly voted against funding.
With no citizen comment, Anderson announced that a fine time was had by all at the Alexander Black House fundraiser the previous week.
A good time and a good cause, Hager-Smith said, before adjourning the meeting.
