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The Town of Blacksburg has been named as the recipient of the 2007 Virginia Municipal (VML) Achievment Award for the Roanoke-Lee Street Housing Project, and the 2007 Virginia Municpal League Communications Award for the Blacksburg 2046 Comprehensive Plan Blog. Virginia Municipal League Achievement Awards are competitive benchmarks for communities seeking local government excellence. The competition is conducted annually to encourage and recognize such excellence and innovation in Virginia local government. It includes five categories based on population so that local governments compete with other local government of comparable size.
Background: Blacksburg 2046 Task Force Blog
The success of the 2006 update of Blacksburg 2046 was accomplished through the dedicated efforts of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan Task Force utilizing the Comprehensive Plan Blog. Task Force members were highly attuned to the importance of conducting an open process to allow citizen participation at all times and in an environmentally friendly manner. These two concerns resulted in the Task Force’s weekly Thursday meetings being made open to the public with meeting agendas, minutes, and other pertinent information posted to the Town’s website, www.blacksburg.gov. Meetings were videotaped for rebroadcast on WTOB, the Town’s community television station and through WTOB’s online video, allowing citizens to watch meetings at their convenience. Information was distributed through e-mail to help reduce the number of copies made.As the Comprehensive Plan Task Force began its review of the Town’s adopted comprehensive plan, several major challenges quickly emerged. How could the Task Force manage the editing process of summarizing over 600 pages of Town policies into a user-friendly document? How does a group of fifteen people with fifteen different schedules arrange productive editing sessions and keep everyone in sync on the various drafts reviewed and decisions made? How could the editing process be made environmentally friendly and available to local citizens, including the highly networked Virginia Tech community?
The Solution
To create the Comprehensive Plan Task Force Blog. In addition to the Task Force’s weekly meetings, the Blog allowed members to meet electronically via the internet. The Blacksburg Electronic Village, an outreach project of Virginia Tech that serves the local community, created and maintains the Task Force Blog at https://secure.bev.net/townplan/.
VML Judges Said:
“The Town of Blacksburg, through the use of its Comprehensive Plan Task Force Blog, provides a great example of how to utilize technology and community partners, including the Blacksburg Electronic Village, to streamline large projects. As most governmental projects, this one involved many people and was subject to public input, as it should be. The use of a Blog was forward thinking, cost-efficient and a great way to ensure that all task members worked on the most current versions of the plan.”“The Task Force used more traditional communication methods to inform town residents about the status of the project, including conducting open meetings that were taped and rebroadcast both on the public television station and online. Minutes and information were posted for all citizens to review. While these methods proved to be very effective, the Task Force ‘looked outside the box’ as to how it could better manage internal and external communications. Importantly, this added level of communication served to facilitate the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan within a very strict timeframe.”
Background: Roanoke-Lee Street Housing Program
In early 2004, the Town of Blacksburg partnered with Community Housing Partners Corporation to purchase several vacant parcels in the neglected Roanoke-Lee Street Neighborhood. This was an area of Town that desperately needed a facelift. This neighborhood contains many neglected rental properties as well as some owner-occupied homes whose residents are unable to pay for needed renovations. By purchasing these vacant parcels, the Town of Blacksburg committed to improving the community by promoting cohesive and friendly neighborhoods.Construction on 14 low to moderate income units began in October of 2005 following a groundbreaking ceremony attended by many of the partners and state and local government officials. Two separate sites were developed, one on Prospect Street and one off of Woolwine Street. Four duplexes (eight units) were constructed on the Prospect Street site and three duplexes (six units) were constructed on the Woolwine Street site. These units were all two- and three-bedroom duplexes, having unique character and color and modern, efficient floor plans. The design of these units has been nationally recognized for combining affordability and energy efficiency.As an integral part of this project, the Town of Blacksburg agreed to install underground utilities for all homeowners in the area, not only those purchasing these newly constructed units. At no cost to citizens, the Town of Blacksburg acquired all of the necessary easements and coordinated with the local electric and telephone companies to install underground utilities in the Roanoke-Lee Street Neighborhood. After underground utilities have been installed, new curb and gutters and a new sidewalk will be constructed and all streets involved in this project will be repaved.The Town of Blacksburg also used Community Development Block Grant funds in several other creative ways. Almost $20,000 was used to build a new sidewalks and to expand the existing sewer lines. Recognizing the rising costs of closing a home purchase, and with the differing subsidies provided by each partner, the Town dedicated $46,500 in direct down payment assistance for the 14 new homeowners. The Town of Blacksburg allotted at least $3,000 per unit towards down payment and closing cost assistance.Sales of the units began in June 2006, with the first unit was sold to a young couple before construction was completed. This couple participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony held on June 8, 2006 on Prospect Street, where most of the planned eight units had been completed. The remainder of the units had been sold and occupied as of January 5, 2007.
VML Judges Said:
“Recognizing the serious problem of rapidly inflated housing costs in Blacksburg, town leaders devised a creative means of rejuvenating a neglected neighborhood, while constructing 14 new, affordable, energy-efficient housing units. The town partnered with the Community Housing Partner’s Corp. and, utilizing Community Development Block Grant funds, purchased several vacant lots and undertook a major project to strengthen the entire neighborhood -- not merely through building new structures.”“While the town undertook a comprehensive plan to address the need for affordable housing units, they took the project to a higher level by also strengthening the sense of community and the educational and financial counseling needs of the new homeowners. Through public design charettes, the neighborhood residents were able to help ensure the architectural design of the new houses fit into the surrounding ones. The town leaders also gained strong community support through various strategies: preserving the old trees around the new housing units, installing sidewalks, and upgrading the existing infrastructure, including new underground utilities for all houses. In addition, they constructed a new, city-owned park within the project area.”“One of the most innovative aspects of this project, however, is the support given to these new homeowners. In recognition of the importance of education regarding home finance, budgeting and home maintenance for the long-term success of this project, the town provided for and required all homeowners to complete a homeownership course, which was supplemented by individual counseling. Blacksburg deserves recognition for the multi-faceted approach it took to ensure the long-term viability of this newly revitalized neighborhood.”The awards will be presented at the 102nd Annual VML Conference in James City County on October 16, 2007.
About VML:
The Virginia Municipal League is a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association of city, town and county governments established in 1905 to improve and assist local governments through legislative advocacy, research, education and other services. The membership includes 39 cities, 157 towns and 12 counties.
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