The Christiansburg Planning Commission will meet on Monday, July 12 and take up four issues.
One is the fourth attempt by developer Robert Fralin to bring yet another subdivision which will feed onto Peppers Ferry Road. This requires a rezoning. In a Roanoke Times article he is quoted as saying it is "imperative" residents know this land is shown as future residential in the Christiansburg Comprehensive Plan. What's supposedly different this time is a separate entrance onto Route 114, rather than blowing through Sage Lane.
The traffic concerns expressed extended beyond adding possibly hundreds of more vehicles per day along a narrow residential road. Every residential rezoning request which would exit onto Peppers Ferry in the recent past has brought out issues about safety and citizen requests for traffic signals.
Past traffic count methodology was questioned and the small portion of Peppers Ferry which was 4-laned (not using federal stimulus funds) does little to alleviate congestion or ability to make safe turn onto or off of this busy road. Certainly no one (including area state delegates) is realistically expecting VDOT funds to continue the road improvements to Franklin Street.
Christiansburg has been waiting for that funding for about 20 years.
Which is about when the Christiansburg Comprehensive Plan was first thrown together.
So what is truly "imperative" is understanding that while the Town's comp plan does show this area as scheduled for future residential growth, it doesn't mean this particular plan. It doesn't mean now, when the necessary infrastructure (emergency services building, stormwater management, adequate public transportation, roadways and schools) isn't present.
After the Planning Commission (which now has the smallest membership allowed by law) reviews this request again, should citizens anticipate another rubberized approval to Town Council? Unlike other communities, there haven't been any neighborhood meetings scheduled where citizens can review the proposed design plans and discuss them with town administrators and the applicant. The Christiansburg Comprehensive Plan is absent any significant community input and a Neighborhood Master Plan.
Citizens always have to march down to Town Hall to review the applicable maps and written proffers. Or attend these meetings and try to look over the shoulders of commissioners to get a look at what's been submitted. Ditto for the Joint Public Hearing scheduled for Tuesday, July 20th -- where multimedia, accessible displays and handouts of related documents are always absent. And if anything is "negotiated" between that hearing and when Council is expected to vote on the matter August 3rd, will citizens be allowed to readdress those items? Generally, the answer is "no".
A bigger question will be how the Town of Christiansburg moves to make its Comprehensive Plan a viable roadmap to the future, as intended by the underlying State Code.