Location of proposed eight-story housing project at 801 North Main Street, Blacksburg.
Lori Graham
Contributing Writer
BLACKSBURG – An ordinance to rezone a parcel of land, along with two other associated ordinances, located at 801 North Main St. in Blacksburg, for the purpose of a housing development was approved during the town council’s March 11 meeting in a four-to-three vote.
Council members Susan Anderson, Jerry Ford and Lauren Colliver expressed concerns over the density and height of the building as well as parking concerns, voting against the proposed housing project.
All three ordinances were presented and discussed, but voted on separately, with the vacation of an alley way first in the presentation. Ordinance 2063 will vacate approximately 2,000 square feet of a town-owned alley right-of-way between the 800 block of Kabrich Street and the 900 block of Progress Street NW.
A public hearing followed a staff presentation by Kinsey O’Shea with the Town of Blacksburg Planning and Building Department concerning the proposed site, which also includes three-story townhomes.
According to O’Shea, this is “an existing alley that runs parallel to Kabrich and Progress streets that exits onto Main Street at a curb cut near the Speedway gas station.”
O’Shea also said that there is no current residential access to the alley; however, the connected properties are subject to the rezoning request and will no longer be in commercial use if the rezoning request is approved. The alley is separate from the Speedway gas station property.
Ordinance 2062 was approved for rezoning of approximately 2.8 acres of land at 801 North Main Street, 800 Block of Kabrich Street, 100 Block of Winston Avenue and 900 Block of Progress Street from General Commercial and R-5 Transitional Residential District to Planned Residential District Zoning. Resolution 3-E-25 will grant a Conditional Use Permit to Use an Alley for Non-Single-Unit Residential Dwellings between the 900 block of Kabrich Street and the 900 block of Progress Street NW (CUP-24-3).
“The Comprehensive Plan future land use designation envisions up to 20 bedrooms per acre for multi-family uses,” O’Shea said. “Even when evaluating only the proposed townhome style multi-family density on the medium density residential area, the proposed density of 77 bedrooms per acre exceeds that which was envisioned in the future land use designation for this area.”
As part of the applicant’s proposal, a contribution of $1,138,500 will be made to the Town’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. These funds are to be designated for low-middle income homes.
Applicant Chris Johnson followed with his own presentation, highlighting that the proposed property is a short five-minute walk to Virginia Tech and the downtown area. Johnson also pointed out that the parcel has historically been prone to flooding issues and that stormwater development to be completed with the housing project shows great improvement for these drainage problems.
The site is proposing retail space as well, with “2500-square-foot of an award-winning coffee shop that will hug the corner. It has an outdoor seating area; it will be open day one with the apartments,” Johnson said. “We also have bookended the main street frontage of our site with the 2300-square-foot space for an additional local commercial and 21 retail dedicated parking stalls that have easy access directly to Main Street from behind these positions.”
Among the benefits Johnson said the development would bring in addition to “almost 60 units of market-rate housing,” the property would also generate over $600,000 in taxes and fees, provide a new bus stop in front of the complex.”
Many citizens attended the meeting to address the proposed housing complex, speaking against the council’s approval.
Karen Earheart of Blacksburg, said “I think the location where this is being considered is, it’s not a good location for that many apartments, for that many people, for the townhomes, for that high a density in that one tiny bit of area.”
Transportation and parking are also key issues with this proposed building site and development, with a ratio of 0.5 parking spaces per housing resident. Jean Cobb of Blacksburg said, “One of the rezoning narratives on the Town website states that this is likely, it’s likely that the students of the 202-unit building will walk and bike to campus and it’s a huge unfounded assumption. We know from past experience it’s highly unlikely in fact that the majority will do that.”
Councilman Liam Watson, a resident at 804 Progress St., which is near the location of the proposed property, acknowledges the traffic and parking issues already happening in this part of Blacksburg. He also accepts that the proposed apartments are not considered affordable housing for many people.
“I’m very keenly aware of the problems we have in this town with affordability,” Watson said. “The units in this building are not by any stretch of the imagination affordable. They are out of my price range.”
However, Watson went on to say that the Virginia Tech community are constituents with the town as well and the need for housing is a primary concern for everyone. Susan Mattingly echoed this need for student housing.
“The more students who come in, if there is not adequate housing, plenty of them can afford $1,500 a room, their parents will buy the house next door and put their kids in there,” Mattingly said. “There are no easy solutions to the problems we are facing. Density is inevitable if we are going to solve our housing crisis.”
Blacksburg Town Council will hold their next regular meeting Mar. 25, 2025, at 6:30 p.m.