On Dec. 21, 2010, the Town Council for the Town of Christiansburg met to discuss and vote on several issues. Previously, at these meetings, I have been a bit too focused on getting video done and not paying as much attention to the nuances of the discussions. The topic of locating a cell tower came up and the light bulb in my head went on! Read the rest of this entry »
A simple modification to a child’s verse can perhaps lead to some insight on the importance of planning for growth of your community. In fact, perhaps it can lead you to some useful tools in understanding the process, becoming involved, and help to create the future ‘viewscapes’, tax base, services, recreation, and a myriad of other features that are all pieces of fabric from which the quilt of a community is created. Read the rest of this entry »
A plan is a wonderful thing. It involves thinking about a problem and coming up (generally) with a written document that identifies the Goals, Objectives, and Strategies needed to accomplish those, thus achieving the Plan. That’s a pretty simple concept in theory, but it doesn’t always work in practice. Read the rest of this entry »
Important information available for citizens at the Town’s website and one additional piece of work can be found at myvaresources.com concerning the Nov. 9 2010 Joint Town Council and Planning Commission work session. Read the rest of this entry »
A previously discussed item came up at the 11/2/10 Town Council Meeting although it wasn’t on the agenda. While the Town Council recently decided to expand the size of the Planning Commission, they established a process of interviewing and scoring applicants.
When the topic was brought up the Town Council Meeting, it was found that the only remaining step was to total the scores. Since this process would only take about 5 minutes, Town Council members decided to have a short break and let the Town Manager complete the totals. Read the rest of this entry »
While representatives from the Town of Christiansburg Government went to the recent annual VML Conference, little information has trickled back to citizens about what information or ideas those people brought home with them…yet. Of course, it is still early and Town Council members have been very busy dealing with Town business.
Fortunately, VML (Virginia Municipal League) does an excellent job of outreach to citizens. They provide a website that includes a page of topics covered and handouts provided at: http://www.vml.org/CONF/10ConfHampton.html. If you are not one of those people who wants to sit back have information delivered to you, simply take the initiative to see what is available. Who knows, it may just give you the background you need to understand why some things are done the way they are, or might inspire you to come up with a different idea that would work better for your area. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a continuation of my previous article Christiansburg Sidewalk Questionnaire beats the Citizen Satisfaction Survey in uselessness! I warned you that I was angry and when I get angry I start doing the research. Then, I present the data that I have found. Here is as good a starting place as any: Read the rest of this entry »
I didn’t believe it was possible to be more biased in information gathering that what was used for citizen input in the Christiansburg Comprehensive Planning process. In that case, rather than designing a survey specifically addressing the role and function of a Comprehensive Plan, the Town used a survey that had been presented earlier concerning Citizen Satisfaction. The Citizen Satisfaction Survey does not contain questions that should be included in a Comprehensive Plan Survey and, at the time they were collected, people did not know the data was to be used to project future goals and objectives. It was simply a device which asked people how they felt about their services and Town right at that time. Read the rest of this entry »
Since I received so many emails and phone calls about the issue of the Sidewalk Ordinance (and since the process was pretty darned confusing to me and I was at the meetings), I decided to do a summary using the 4 draft copies of the ordinance that I picked up at the Planning Commission Meetings. I have the drafts from June 14, June 29, August 16, and September 27 on hand. I set those up in a spreadsheet to show the process and changes. Read the rest of this entry »
Continuing in the discussion of why I felt the Planning Commission recommendation that the Town Council NOT approve the rezoning at 400 Starlight Drive from R-2 to B-3. Start with remembering that in the Residential Zones/Districts of 1, 2 , and 3, 1 is the most restrictive, 3 is the least restrictive, and 2 is somewhere in between. The same pattern holds true with the 3 basic Business Zones/Districts. Read the rest of this entry »
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