Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406300005
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It wasn't one of their normal bimonthly meetings - a recent one of which lasted only six minutes.
This was the first meeting of its kind in two years, and it was here that council wanted to condense a list of the most important topics it sees on its agenda for the upcoming biennium.
The list-to-be-whittled-down read like a history of articles that have appeared in this newspaper, ongoing stories and topics still simmering, and pet peeves of a few Council members.
Some of the 70-plus items up for consideration: Blacksburg's industrial park, a new fire station, Interstate 73, the Huckleberry Trail, fraternities and sororities, the Blacksburg Electronic Village, bicentennial plans, citizen participation, a minor league baseball team, towing service and bus exhaust emissions.
There were plenty more, all written up in magic marker on poster-sized sheets of paper attached to the walls inside the Police Department's community conference room.
After recounting some of what has happened over the past two years, eating dinner, hearing a brief explanation of each of the issues, and voting twice, council came up with its list of the biggies.
It includes: the zoning ordinance rewrite, retail development and retention, industrial land, comprehensive plan update, intergovernmental relationships, development of a senior center, direct link to Interstate 81, downtown parking, and personal and community safety.
The raison d'etre for each of the nine issues is rooted in different backgrounds.
The town has been working on rewriting the zoning ordinances for more than a year, and it will probably take that much longer to finish them. The comprehensive plan update, with the addition last week of an open-space initiative, is of similar ilk.
The direct link (council's adamantly applied term for the "smart road"), intergovernmental relations, and downtown parking all have been around for some time. Two days after council met, Mayor Roger Hedgepeth asked Virginia Tech leaders to let council know when - or if - they were going to move forward on the long-discussed parking deck. Give us until the beginning of 1995 to decide, Tech said.
Blacksburg has been marketing itself more and more as a prime retirement community, and recently found funds to hire a part-time coordinator of senior programs. But a center specifically for senior citizens would be a big boost for that image.
Meanwhile, empty spaces at Gables, University Mall and Blacksburg Square shopping centers worry anyone with a stake in retail business. Bringing and keeping business in town, even as the Christiansburg retail hub at the Marketplace expands, demands attention.
On another tack, with Fiber & Sensor Technologies' purchase of a lot in the industrial park last spring, the town no longer has any industrial-zoned land to sell and is looking to buy.
Personal and community safety sounds a bit touchy-feely, but to hear some council members' perspectives on what it means lends a greater sense of immediacy. "The lack of responsibility on the part of some downtown bar operators [is] the No.1 issue in the town now," said Councilman Waldon Kerns, echoed by Hedgepeth.
Whatever the background, those nine issues are the most important, in council's consensus of opinion. Of course, that's not to slight a slew of other issues, some seen now, many not. Town Manager Ron Secrist repeatedly stressed as much, and several members complained about the difficulty of condensing so many items into a short list.
Before that task began, though, Secrist ticked off a list of successes the council has helped bring about during the past two years.
Back then, the seven leaders attached to their attention-list items like: developing a land-use and sewer plan for the Toms Creek basin, coming up with an open-space initiative, exploring the feasibility of creating a park with the new Blacksburg elementary school, finishing plans for the parking deck, and a half-dozen others.
Some of those goals have been realized; some are being addressed; some are in limbo.
But Secrist also cited several tangible things in whose success council has had a hand. Work on the Huckleberry, a new aquatics center, an addition to the police building, a U.S. Senate Productivity Award - all and more have happened since council met like this two years ago.
"Blacksburg is better today than it was two years ago," Secrist said.
Let's hope the same can be said when the time comes around to sit down again in 1996.
by CNB