Conversation on "FOIA & The Potential For Abuse"

You've said very clearly why these features do not exist. Christiansburg's leadership has not required them nor made them a priority beyond paper or what appears to be empty words. If skirting around intentions and "gaming the system" are the norm perhaps it is time to seat more responsive members, attuned to what citizens want rather than how to ensure a developer is happy. This market is not so peculiar from others in SWVA yet the type of growth experienced in Christiansburg is strikingly different.

Is this a intentional violation or just certain people being unable to delegate or talk openly during regular meetings? Apologize if you get caught again? How long have these guys been around and how many times have they been given the rules? It seems like fancy footwork to give developers what they want rather than what is best for Christiansburg over the long haul. The people building houses have temporary jobs and are not necessarily residents here. What do they care if it takes 10 minutes to cross 4 lanes of speeding cars. What do they care if the schools are crowded and county taxes have to go up? They got theirs and left.

Great blog but one of the things you missed is that right of ways are 50 feet. Pavement is less than 30 feet. This provides nominal stormwater management but great cost containment when building a development. It also throws people out into streets. Your blog on "Sage View" a year ago clearly shows that a homeowner whose car is in his/her driveway is violating parking too close to a fire hydrant. This appears to be closer to the home than the road with a driveway barely being long enough to park two vehicles. If more than one car is owned and these are instead parked on the street there isn't very much room for walkers, bicycles or emergency vehicles....then again, even if trails or sidewalks are promised, whose job is it to ensure they are built and maintained or connect to the next "phase" or subdivision, or aren't perpetually blocked by construction equipment?

The video and audio recordings of the PC meetings will back you up. More will be getting loaded in the next few days as there are 2 TC meetings that I haven't had time to load yet....been working on a few little things of my own. This also explains the rather large amount of Planning Commission Meeting Minutes as they would have to either be censored (illegally) or would provide paper proof of the exchanges. Unlike the Town Council Minutes which can shorten minutes, the PC minutes are required to include everything. Another problem with this is that, in most meetings, minutes are taken and typed, then at the next meeting, those people on the board/committee/etc. are asked to read the minutes and verify that those minutes are correct (any necessary changes are made) and there is a vote to accept. Town Council does this every meeting (although on occasion, the Mayor has had to be reminded of this). This process does not occur with the Planning Commission. Prior to citizen recordings being made, there was nothing to verify what was said or done. Unfortunately, my health prevented me from attending the last two PC meetings, but there are plenty of videos and recordings where this behavior is shown. According to one Town staff member, it is not required because there are no bylaws specifying that it be done for the PC. This means that memories can fail as to what actually transpired, or, in a worst case scenario, statements can be modified at will. Minutes need to be taken of these meetings and the members need to be voting on the correctness of those meetings. What in the world would they ever do if these records were called to be presented in Court?

So very typical of C-burg. 99% of what goes to the Planning Commission is approved however it is presented. No thought or discussion about anything outside the boundaries of a single property. Everything is buried in town hall just because they can. Then council pretends it has a clue about what's going on and what this "development" will really bring in because of higher property values because something was built. If I had a dollar for every time a council person said "I didn't know that" then I'd be a rich man. But let someone from "outside" come to the table then you'd better be able to brown nose with the best of them, grovel or hire one of a couple local engineering firms to help you navigate this system. Competition bad! This has created low quality low price (as compared to overall NRV market) housing that puts a strain on school resources and county funding for these additional teachers, larger classroom, free and reduced meals, and so on. It also drags other neighborhood prices down making homeownership a bad investment in C-burg which is why the average price there is less than surrounding areas. Nothing connects to anything else, only a bedroom or commuter community (if you drive a car). Almost every single person who has "served" on town council and-or planning commission during the past 20 years contributed to this, even celebrated it as an achievement. This places an economic drag on the entire NRV and is only to get worse now because all the hidden costs are going to start popping up like mushrooms. Its hard to fathom this represents the "brightest and the best" of over 10,000 adults who live here.

It doesn't help the planning commission to have their "bosses" in the room. Making comments. Providing guidance. Especially since they sit together talking to each other. Heck, for all I know they golf together, worship together, go to the same civic clubs or country clubs together, do special events and family vacations together. Is this normal??