Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
BLACKSBURG- The Blacksburg Town Council heard public comment and voted on Ordinance 2051 to rezone 33.87 acres of land to be developed into a new housing development and park at its July 9 meeting.
According to the staff report presented on Ordinance 2051 during the meeting, the land in question, the site of the old Blacksburg High School, was rezoned to be planned residential land in 2014. The land is 33.87 acres but not all of that land will be developed, as part of the land parcel extends past Montgomery County lines. The staff report presentation explained that the land is broken into three zones and most of the development will be happening in Zone 2, which accounts for 11 acres of the land, as most of Zone 3 is heavily wooded. The development is proposed to have 73 townhomes, the majority of which will be two stories high with three bedrooms in each unit. They will construct two new streets and driveways and also include passive recreational space. If the town council were to have not approved the new zoning ordinance, the zoning would go back to its original zoning from years prior.
The developers have modified the floor plans to have the primary suite on the main floor and have units with adjustments to make them wheelchair friendly and ADA compliant. The community in public comments worried about these homes becoming student housing and some environmental issues regarding watershed and potential flooding in the area. Other residents worried about the housing crisis in Blacksburg as the current ordinance is denser than its original proposal as they cut almost one hundred rooms from the old proposal to the new proposal, offering less rooms for families or students. The homes are being developed with the hope to offer affordable housing for the community, but there was discussion in the meeting about whether or not they will offer rentals or if it’s just homebuyers.
“This is a very important piece of land,” Vice Mayor Michael Sutphin said, “to the Town of Blacksburg. It’s a former school site. So there’s a lot of community interest. It’s part of our collective memory in Blacksburg, so people have a lot of invested interest in not just the neighbors but the whole community, making sure that we do right by the community and have a good development on it.”
The Town of Blacksburg voted and approved to comply with the rezoning as was presented to them on July 9, 2024.
