Now that is a $1,000,000 plus question. (By the way, videos of the meeting are at: http://myvaresources.com/VideoFiles2010/2010_07_12PC/2010_07_12PC1.html
Here are a few observations/questions about why this and many other development issues have come up.
- Poor to non-existent planning.
- Council not being fully informed before making decisions.
- Planning Commission not being fully informed before making recommendations.
- Planning Dept. staff not knowing what information the Planning Commission and/or Town Council need to know in order to make informed decisions.
- Planning Commission and/or Town Council not wanting to know the information required to make informed decisions.
- Someone dictating what the Planning Dept. staff is allowed to present to the Town Council and/or Planning Commission, created a very skewed view of things.
At the July 12th Planning Commission Meeting, I reviewed what the Town is calling Staff Analysis packages. These are the packets of information that are provided to Planning Commission and then to Town Council in order for those elected and appointed officials to know the impact on rezoning/development on the Town as a whole and on neighborhoods specifically. It was all I could do to keep from laughing hysterically.
Take a look for yourself. Then take a look at samples I got from other jurisdictions for a comparison.
- Christiansburg Staff Analysis
- Examples from other jurisdictions: Sample 1 Sample 2
You will quickly note that the information that is provided to Commissioners and Council is far more extensive in other jurisdictions.
When I asked Planning Director Wingfield why there was so little information, he responded that he had been told by the Town Manager what was to be given in the report and that the Town Council has said what it is that they wanted.
This sets up two distinctive scenarios: 1) the Town Manager has been controlling what the appointed and elected officials see in relation to any proposed development or rezoning, and 2) the Council members are expected to know what it is that is available for them to ask for and that they have the knowledge/training to know what is important.
I believe that it is part of most programs offering Planning Degrees for students to learn what should be included in such documents. Also, I do not believe that we have any elected or appointed personnel who have degrees in planning. This makes it a lot like going to a proctologist for a toothache! Hello….get a clue…people who are trained to do something, have been examined for their knowledge on that something, might…just might have a tad bit more knowledge than those who do not. In fact, if I am not mistaken, isn’t that why the Town of Christiansburg pays the money that they do for Planners, because of their knowledge.
Talk about waste of taxpayer money. If you are not going to let someone do what they are trained to do then why have people with the training?
If you don’t have people trained making assessments and giving advice, then don’t be surprised when you have problems with whatever area they are working in….i.e., traffic, stormwater, legal issues, etc. You can expect to see problems and LAWSUITS when professional staff members are restricted or incapable of doing the very jobs that they were hired to do.
More on Sage Lane to come, particularly how easily the ‘emergency access’ can be dealt with WITHOUT having to have a ‘road’ there to create traffic issues.
As a side note, Mr. Huppert noted that he was now seeing people out working on sidewalks and that maybe the focus of the Planning Commission on sidewalks contributed to that behavior. Personally, I doubt it. I think it is far more likely that increased activities on sidewalks, groundskeeping, road repair, landscaping, street cleaning, and other such area, is more likely a function of the fact that with the Aquatic Center finally ‘finished’, all of those town workers were were diverted from their normal jobs to work on the Aquatic Center suddenly find themselves being allowed to work on the routine daily issues of a town.
The Aquatic Center cost town taxpayers a lot more than just the money for the building. Diverting Town staff from their regular duties to work on the Aquatic Center meant that things did not get done! Even the Town Manager has acknowledged that to cut any personnel would mean having to cut services. It should come as no surprise to citizens that basic services were dropped in order to have people work on the Aquatic Center. Town Council has asked for an accounting of the number of town staff hours involved in the development of the Aquatic Center several times in the past and only vague responses have been received.
Maybe the only way that Council could find out the answer to that question would be to ask the workers themselves. Cutting services to taxpayers is not the right way to get the work done at the Aquatic Center. Reportedly, town staff was used to save money. Perhaps this also contributed to the multiple DCR violations on the site for erosion and sediment control as well.
