Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG – Five public hearings were scheduled to be heard during the Christiansburg Town Council meeting on Tuesday, April 23; however, the property ground lease agreement with New River Valley Aquatics (NRVA), Inc., otherwise known as H20kies Aquatics has been rescheduled for May 14.
A conditional use permit request by property owners Howard M. Thorton, Jr. and Gayle W. Thorton, to permit a contractor storage yard for equipment at the locations of 520 and 540 Depot St. in Christiansburg was another public hearing item listed on the agenda. The 2.409-acre parcel is currently listed as Mixed Land Use in the downtown area of Christiansburg in accordance with the 2013 Christiansburg Comprehensive Plan, the agenda at www.christiansburg.org reads.
A property located 3345 Roanoke St. of 1.595 acres and a property located at 3301 Roanoke St. of 5.955 acres, both owned by Johnny C. Martin and Amelia F. Martin, were also addressed in the public hearing portion of the meeting. The property owners and applicants are requesting a rezoning from (A) Agriculture to (B-3) General Business. Along with this request is a conditional use permit request to amend and expand a contractors’ equipment storage yard that would be for the complete property at the 3301 Roanoke St. location and a portion of the 3345 Roanoke St. location.
“At a previous meeting, I read a citizen’s comment from Steve Knowles who is a neighbor within the area of that property,” Mayor Michael Barber said. “He expressed he has absolutely no qualms about this going. He said he’s been a good neighbor, they’re clean, they run a good business.”
Steve Semones, Executive Vice President of Balzer and Associates, a civil engineering firm in Christiansburg, addressed the Council on both requests involving the Roanoke Street properties.
Semones said that Martin is currently operating his business on Roanoke Street but plans to expand to an additional 20,000 square foot building.
“A little over 18,000 of that would be garage space for his equipment and then about 1,600 square feet of that would be office,” Semones said.
According to Semones, all proffers that were originally attached to the property in the original zoning would be applied to this property. This would include screening, stormwater management, and installing a public sidewalk.
One citizen concern was also mentioned by Semones as well, about the hours of operation and disturbance from trucks coming in and out of the property. The hours of operation will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The last public hearing discussed during the council meeting was the 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Action Plan. This program is funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and has a primary goal to provide programs that meet with the needs of low-income and middle-income residents in the Town of Christiansburg, according to the www.christiansburg.org website. Christiansburg Town Council is scheduled to take action on this plan during their Tuesday, May 14 meeting.
One consent agenda item was voted on separately from the others listed. The item is the allocation of approved funds to the Montgomery Museum to be paid as part of the monthly bills in an amount of $10,000. The vote was passed with an approval of 3-2, with Council members Kim Bowman and Johana Hicks voting nay, and Casey Jenkins abstaining from the vote due to his position as Director of the Museum.
“I’m going to vote no, not because I don’t believe in the organization, I just, I don’t think that we should use town resources to spend on the museum,” Hicks said.