Think Christiansburg (another blog site) has a
good summary of issues addressed at the meeting. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll refer you to that site and just add a few bites that I also found important.
I was impressed with the developer's clear knowledge of recent changes in VDOT standards for the need for new traffic studies to be done if any more development is added to the area in the future. A lot of good questions were asked by Town Council and some of them were answered.
In reference to the Aquatic Center issues, I like the fact that Town Council members are asking to see the agreement with Tech before they authorize the Town Manager to sign it in their behalf. It only makes commonsense to me, that since they are the ones who will 'pay the political bill' come election time, and they are the ones who will be held accountable for the use of taxpayer money, they should know what it is they are authorizing him to sign before giving him the authorization to sign it. If any problems do arise from their reading of the document, Town Council members have an opportunity to voice opinions and recommend changes BEFORE it is a done deal.
Additionally, it has only taken 7 years but there may finally be a business plan. It has been over 4 years since Mr. Wade started asking for a business plan for this enterprise. (And, all these years I thought the business plan was done during the early startup phase, not at the end of the process. Maybe I need to get word out to a lot of financial institutions that they have been doing it backwards:)
The issue of modification to the Town's sign ordinance as it pertains to roof, secondary roof, and marquee signs brought about some pretty serious discussions. Mr. Terpenny (Town Manager) noted that the recommendations of the Planning Commission concerning digital signs and CUP's would not be applicable because it was a sign ordinance, not a zoning issue. He asked the Town Attorney to further inform the Council.
The Town Attorney noted that the biggest reason it wouldn't work was because unlike most other jurisdictions in the State of Virginia, Christiansburg has a sign ordinance that is separate from the zoning ordinance. The Attorney noted that by combining the two (sign and zoning ordinance - as other jurisdictions have already done), this would allow the Town Council to take into consideration how the signs would affect the surrounding community and could be specific to zones. Wow! Just imagine, signs appropriate to the area in which they would be placed, taking into consideration residences and citizen concerns.
It was pointed out that the main reason to keep it separate was so that the Board of Zoning Appeals didn't get involved because the BZA typically overruled the Town's decisions. Well, as someone who has attended BZA meetings, I will note that perhaps that issue would be corrected if: 1) BZA members were certified and trained, 2) Town staff were present at all BZA meetings to make statements and ask questions, 3) Town provided a checklist of how they had met the legal criteria and attached the necessary documentation to prove that all legally required steps had been performed, 4) BZA completed a checklist to show that they had addressed all of the issues they are mandated to address and statements of why they determine the Town's decision did not meet the legal criteria. It's not much different from completing a recipe: Find a recipe, Get the ingredients, Follow the steps...and most of the time things work out. If the recipe is flawed, the best ingredients in the world will not make it come out right and vice versa. (
SEE PREVIOUS BLOGS ON BZA AND PLANNING COMMISSION). WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO GET RID OF THIS FIX THE BLAME ATTITUDE AND SIMPLY START FIXING THE PROBLEM????
Fortunately, despite some Council members assertion that digital signs should be allowed to keep being put up whenever and wherever (since they are not addressed in the existing ordinance), Mike Barber, Ann Carter, and Brad Stipes held on the idea of banning them in the existing ordinance (applies to roof, secondary roof, and marquee only) and waiting for the Planning Commission to come up with a comprehensive ordinance concerning digital signs throughout the town. This simply means that citizens will have a great say in what happens concerning signs. Moving the sign ordinance into the zoning ordinance would mean that the Town Council rather than the Town Manager would be controlling signs and with a clear, clean ordinance the criteria would be applied fairly to all people. It would remove the potential for any perceived bias by making the citizens a part of the process, and controversial issues could be brought out for public hearings where those people most affected by the signs would have a say in things.
All in all, it was a pretty impressive meeting with Town Council showing some real leadership and accountability. Maybe I'm as crazy as some of my readers allege, but I like it when I see the will of the people being taken into consideration. I also like it when I see the Town Council asking a lot of questions when the taxpayer's money is being used.
The answers provided are not always in my personal best interest BUT they shouldn't be....they should be in the best interest of the Town and those citizens most directly affected.