While I had planned on scanning copies of those maps, I found something a bit more useful. The United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service has a little old website that provides more and newer information than can be found in that old 1985 document.

The particular site section is the Web Soil Survey. I am not going to lie to you and tell you it is a piece of cake to use. However, with a little bit of effort you can find out some pretty amazing things about what should or shouldn’t be built where based upon type of soil, slope, tendency for concrete to degrade due to chemical nature of soil, and a whole lot of other things.

The whole site is very visual and interactive so anticipate spending a good deal of time waiting for maps to load up.

Once your on the main page, you will find directions for use that explain how to use this tool. (By the way the ‘shopping cart’ is merely a holding place, this is a tool free to the public. Maps that you want to obtain are provided in pdf format that prints out quite well or can be published to a website easily (hmmmm…..wonder where that idea’s going:)

What I found was pretty scary. It shows how very important it is to evaluate each area on it’s own merits and how a generic stormwater system is doomed for failure. Don’t get the idea that what you will find is saying ‘don’t build’ in certain locations. It is simply identifying those areas where special attention MUST be paid to manage potential hazards such as stormwater runoff.

Overall, it clearly shows the importance of soil testing by Town Engineering staff, making sure that plans submitted take these different soil types and slopes into consideration, and that thorough  monitoring is performed by the Town.

It may be the developers responsibility to design and build, but it is the Town’s responsibility to make sure that things are done correctly (not necessarily minimum requirements) and that the safety and well-being of its citizens are the focus of deliberations and decisions.

Town of Christiansburg Finance Committee Meeting: 1st Budget Discussion.

Christiansburg VA Town Council Meeting Full of Surprises

INFORMATION NEEDED! Where are the staff reports for land use issues?

Comprehensive Plan vs Comprehensive Plan Map, Reading Between the Lines

Planning Commission Recording

A good use of property but a very bad way to allow it to happen. Rezoning from R-2 to B-3

These documents contain information that is crucial for elected officials to make educated and responsible land use decisions.

In order to show you what I mean, I found some good samples from the website of other jurisdictions. If you get a chance to look at one or two you will have a better idea of what I have been talking about.

City of Chesapeake Department of Planning Post Office Box 15225 Chesapeake, Virginia 23328-5225

CITY OF GLENDALE PLANNING DEPARTMENT DESIGN REVIEW STAFF REPORT CONTEXT

STAFF ANALYSIS REPORT

Montgomery County, VA: Planning: Planning Commission: Archives: Staff Analysis: Sarah M. Wall SUP

Attachment C Staff Analysis LAKE MANASSAS OVERLOOK/SAM JONES PROPERTY

As you can see, there is a consistent pattern. Students in Planning Programs throughout the country are taught how to do this. In other words, it is standard practice in the profession and standard practice in local government.

Next time you get a chance ask one of your Town Council or Planning Commission for information such as you see in the documents but related to a land use issue here. Could they answer that question? If not, is it in a report that they can look at before they make their decision. (Oops…that would also mean the Town Council and Planning Commission would need to have the folders of information more than 5 minutes before the meeting begins…..another inconvenience.)

Listen to the audio and video recordings of Planning Commission and Town Council meetings to see if these types of information are even brought forward, much less used in the decision-making process. This one document, if prepared honestly by the planning department, could provide Town Council with a much better understanding of how the decisions they make will affect the town. Those decisions should be made using this rather than solely on whether or not the proposed zoning, rezoning, or conditional use permit will bring tax money into the town.

Of course, there is one drawback to such a document. It becomes a part of the official record and the public can then have access. It sure seems that Town of Christiansburg goes to extreme efforts to keep people from knowing what is going on. If the land use decision that made has a negative impact on you, wouldn’t you like to know that all issues had been looked at and that there was a legitimate reason for your loss?