I recently commented on another blog about some of the Building Permits data that is available on the website for
citizen information that I manage. (You may also note that I've added a couple more pages. The League of Women Voters page has a lot of useful links for information at all levels of government (this is based on the 2008 information and I will be updating it as I get newer information). The Empowering Citizens page has a variety of links that I have found useful pertaining to State Codes, Planning, Land Use, Demographics, and information on spending at all levels of Virginia jurisdictions. Use the links on the left hand side of the main page to get to these. I will be adding more research links as I can....well, okay, some of them I'm keeping quiet until I get all the data I want:)
While I was looking at the data, I realized there was more to the story than would be appropriate for comment on someone else's blog. So here we go.
In the section of the report that deals with years 1987 through 2007 (20 years) here is what you can find:
NEW CONSTRUCTION PERMITS: 1987 THRU 2007
| timeframe |
Tot. Residental Units |
Total Commercial Buildings |
Total Public Buildings |
Total Industrial Buildings |
| 1987 - 2007 |
3.840 |
372 |
39 |
12 |
| 1998 - 2007 |
2,396 |
161 |
16 |
9 |
| 2000 - 2005 |
1,368 |
93 |
13 |
6 |
| 2000 - 2007 |
1,921 |
122 |
15 |
9 |
The way these numbers are set up are pretty meaningless without further analysis. In order to determine any patterns several steps have to be taken to break apart the information, separating the duplicity that the overlapping time periods and data (this will be addressed at a later date).
Or you can use another data sheet in the document which only covers the fiscal years from 2000 to 2007.(Oh yea! That little old pea brain of mine is already working on breaking down the statistics from the 20 year pattern to see what it really holds in terms of useful information.) In the meantime:
NEW CONSTRUCTION PERMITS BY FISCAL YEAR 2000 THRU 2007
FISCAL YEAR
|
TOTAL RESIDENTIAL UNITS
|
TOTAL COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
|
TOTAL PUBLIC BUILDINGS
|
TOTAL INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
|
| FY 2000-2001 |
217 |
24 |
1 |
0 |
| FY 2001-2002 |
279 |
16 |
4 |
3 |
| FY 2002-2003 |
164 |
9 |
3 |
0 |
| FY 2003-2004 |
249 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
| FY 2004-2005 |
377 |
11 |
4 |
1 |
| FY 2005-2006 |
351 |
21 |
2 |
2 |
| FY 2006-2007 |
199 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
TOTAL
|
1,836 |
100 |
15
|
8
|
The first issues in interpreting the data pops up with the apparent discrepancy between the 2000-2007 data in the first chart with the data totals in the second chart. It isn't really clear in the data but it appears that this is because the first is based on calender year while the second is based on fiscal year.
WHAT DOES THIS DATA SAY ABOUT THE FUTURE AND THE JOBS AVAILABLE FOR YOUR CHILDREN?Regardless of which of these data sets you look at, the pattern is clear. There is a clear focus on growth of residential developements that increase population, an apparent focus on establishing lots of commercial establishments (primarily retail) which offer low paying jobs, a goodly portion of public buildings (where the heck are all of these by the way? I can come up with a list of renovations and a few trailers while the new Town Hall was built, but not new construction which is what this report covers). and almost nothing in industrial buildings (which would have brought in good paying jobs) despite the presence of an industrial park (remember that industrial developments in the Falling Branch industrial park would fall under the Town control for permits despite being on county property).
The central theme that I am seeing is that the Town of Christiansburg has worked hard to get more homes built so that more people are paying property taxes and more retail stores so that more sales tax would be generated. Both of these could provide tax support that would reduce the possibility of current property owners...unless these buildings create demands that exceed the capability of services and a lot of upgrades have to be done. That could actually mean a deficit and a reduction in the quality of services to citizens. That could mean issues of traffic, safety, the ability of staff to perform necessary and required functions like building inspections, water runoff issues, signs ordinances, fire and rescue services, response times of law enforcement and emergency services, etc.
A greater cost to a focus like this is that unless you want your children working in a retail/service job at near minimum wages, where will you children find employment. If the children of Christiansburg have to move to other areas in order to find good jobs, then Christiansburg is tossing away its greatest resources, its youth and its future. Turning Christiansburg into one giant strip mall serving Blacksburg, Radford, and Montgomery County may be Progressive...but sometimes Progress moves in the wrong direction. Maybe it would be better to have property taxes go up a little bit and focus on some of the economic development concepts that would help Christiansburg maintain its individuality and provide good jobs for our children rather than go to the extremes the numbers show we have to keep property taxes low.
There are a lot of communities around the country that have seen their demise simply by this type of focus.
When the youth of a community leave, the community fails. Are our Economic Development Department for the Town of Christiansburg, our Planning Department, and our Elected Officials looking at this issue? Is it too late to change directions? Or, are citizens happy with the way things are? Town Council members have already indicated that citizen silence means they like the way things are. Is this true?