Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
A public hearing will be held on August 8, 2023, for Ordinance 2016, to amend the Westview Cemetery Rules and Regulations in establishing green burials.
Green burials, according to the agenda provided by Blacksburg Town Council at www.blacksburg.gov, will meet a set of guidelines that will provide for only biodegradable materials to be used in the preparation, and burial, of an individual as approved by the Green Burial Council.
Proposed prices to purchase single, double, or multiple green burial sites for in-town Blacksburg residents and for out-of-town individuals or families are included in the amended proposal. An exhibit showing placement of the green burial sites may also be found in the agenda.
| Additional public hearings set for August 8, 2023, by the Blacksburg Town Council include a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and ordinances 2025 and 2029.
CUP 23-0003 is a permit request for hotel use and additional height in the Downtown Commercial Zoning District at 501 South Main Street. Ordinance 2025 involves the vacating of a waterline easement on land located at 615 Southgate Drive. According to the ordinance, as stated in the agenda, the mayor may authorize a quit deed claim that will release interest of this easement to Virginia Tech University. An exhibit of the easement may also be found in the agenda |
Ordinance 2029 will be open to a public hearing on amending Town Code Sections 7-100, 7-103, 7-104, 7-105, 7-108 and 7-109 in relation to the Westview Cemetery. The code sections pertain to the town manager’s overseeing of cemetery records, burial regulations in internment, along with the maintenance and caretaking of the cemetery’s burial sites and grounds.
Also during the regular town council meeting, Council approved their regular public meetings to be on the second and fourth Tuesdays every month, beginning at 6:30 pm. Work sessions for the Council will be held at 11:00 am on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
In another action taken by the council members, an office space located at 200 Clay Street, S.W., formally known as the prior police station, will be leased for one year to the Montgomery County Tourism Development Council. This lease will retrospectively take effect as of July 1, 2023 per the Council’s agenda.
Ordinance 2027 was also approved unanimously by Council to essentially rollover funds in the amount of “$242,897 in previously appropriated CDBG Entitlement Funds from the 2021 Action Plan to the 2022 Action Plan in the CDBG Entitlement Fund, and by reappropriating $341,376 in previously appropriated HOME Consortium Funds to the HOME Consortium Fund, with revenue adjusted accordingly in the Operating Budget” according to the agenda.
CDBG are Community Development Block Grant programs that support community development.
“This is a routine item that we do every year to carryover those unspent funds and then they’ll be applied to future projects according to the action plan” Town Manager Marc Verniel said.
Also approved unanimously by Council is Ordinance 2028 is to amend the FY 2023/2024 Operating Budget to accept and appropriate $255,000 of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services Grant Funds to the General Fund.
“These funds will be used to purchase various pieces of technical police equipment” Verniel said. “The funds are required to be expended by June 30 of 2024, but I think they will be expended well before that time.”
The Town Council will not meet for work session on July 18 or for a regular meeting on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
