At Town Council's meeting tonight, they will probably accept a "friendly" boundary line adjustment for land previously known as the Harkrader Farm along Mud Pike and Buffalo Drive. This includes 153 acres in the county and the town already approved subdivision plans for phase one, allowing 59 single family homes on this property.
When the new middle school was being built adjacent to this property, there was a high level of concern about these roads (College, Moose and Buffalo) being narrow, in an area now prone to flooding, and transporting students on buses or seeing increased young walkers present. The area intersections are configured oddly and have seen greatly increased traffic due to the new school, Harkrader Sports Complex, and residential development already present when the new CMS opened in 2003. These roads have not been improved, however, and there are still no sidewalks so pedestrians are forced to the streets.
At the Board of Supervisor's meeting last night, an opposed
speaker said he didn't think the town was doing a very good job with what it already had, providing several examples. "I can see what's in it for the town, but what's in it for the you, the county," he asked.Well, those poor roads -- even if they meet state standards and fall within a certain category for VDOT uses -- are the responsibility of the town to upgrade. Whenever that happens, it will cost the town money. And from Moose to Mud Pike, there will be sidewalks. Walkers leaving the school can find future walking trails in the development, or future residents can get to the town's sports facility for walking on that track (during non-school hours).
If any home buyers have children, their little noses will be counted as town residents, which will bring 1/3 of one-half of one percent state sales taxes into town coffers. Note the 50% plus 1/3 of 1/3 isn't enough money for the county to build larger schools in Christiansburg (or Auburn, first), and residential taxes provide much less than what it costs to provide town services. Currently, town water and sewer customers cost the town money as these expenses are about twice as much as what residents are billed for.
The town will pay the entire amount needed to fund a DARE officer at the middle school now, too. That may even require this officer is assigned a take-home vehicle by the town.
While phase one of this development is strictly single-family residences, per the town, the other phases are for multi-housing units, getting denser as the development gets closer to the school. Existing property owners, some who have tried already, or speculators cannot buy adjacent lots because
the developer makes money selling houses, not land. When those phases which today fall within the county were rezoned, there were dozens of proffers required by county supervisors -- but these don't convey, so the town cannot enforce them. Neighbors will only be able to look at this developer's
past projects and hope they provide some indication of
what to expect here, at the new edge of the Town of Christiansburg.
Sounds like a real bargain, for someone.