Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 17, 1992 TAG: 9203170181
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Over the years he's seen Prices Fork Road extended up to North Main Street, watched the university grow and businesses pop up around him.
Come this summer, he may be out looking for a place to live, but he doesn't mind.
Hoernemann thinks the proposed shopping complex that would pave over his property and destroy his home is "a great idea."
Blacksburg business owner and developer Ray Chisholm is seeking to rezone Hoernemann's property and surrounding lots to downtown commercial, or C-1.
His plan, called Collegiate Square, would mix retail, office and residential uses on the triangle-shaped property next to Virginia Tech, bordered by Prices Fork Road and Turner and Gilbert streets.
It would include a major university bookstore, clothing and other shops, restaurants and a few efficiency living units aimed at visiting professors and others needing short-term leases in Blacksburg.
"I think people have a good impression of Blacksburg," Hoernemann said. "When they drive into town, they'll have even a better impression."
Monday afternoon, the Environmental Quality and Land Use Committee agreed to forward the rezoning request to the full Planning Commission but did not make a recommendation.
Although the three commission members on the committee mostly liked the project, the site plan and the architectural design, they had a few concerns:
Potential traffic problems along Gilbert Street, a narrow street heavily traveled by pedestrians and bicyclists. The site plan being offered as part of the rezoning shows three driveways into the project.
No sidewalk along Gilbert Street and no provision for future right-of-way to widen the street.
The plan does not include a sign scheme, nor does it designate what type of building materials would be used.
"There are a lot of things we do like," commission member William Claus said. "I like the idea of mixed use. I'm going to walk over there and shop when it's open."
Chisholm's plan also includes 163 parking spaces. Under C-1 zoning, no parking space is required.
About a dozen people who turned out for the neighborhood meeting last week, as well as several at Monday's committee meeting, seemed to like the plan.
Chisholm is offering the site plan as part of his rezoning application. If he doesn't build Collegiate Square, for whatever reason, the property still would have to be developed according to his site plan, said town planner Elaine Echols. The alternative would be to rezone the property again, she said.
Chisholm said he designed the project with Blacksburg in mind, trying to blend the architecture with the community.
It will be a focal point for the town, bordered by two main thoroughfares and the university.
At the neighborhood meeting, he stressed that he is not an out-of-town developer who doesn't care what a project looks like or the impact it will have on the community.
"I live here in Blacksburg, and I take pride in it. When I build this, you all are going to see me on the street," Chisholm said.
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the rezoning request April 7. Town Council will hold one April 14. Both meetings start at 7:30 p.m.
by CNB