The first month of 2010 is now history, and Christiansburg Town Council will be back to work on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30 pm.
Joint Public Hearings with the Planning Commission include rezoning 446 and 448 Depot Street to Mixed Use with a related conditional use permit (CUP), and another CUP for Melody Lane to allow a planned housing development.
Some Vision 2020 initiatives are appearing on the agenda as well, including discussions on sidewalk requirements in residential districts (Interconnected Community, and already allowed by zoning regulations); and greenspace/ recreation space requirements in residential districts (Green Community, Model for Effective Land Use and Clean, Healthy Safe Place to Live).
While these hearings are joint meetings the Planning Commission (PC) is not having a separate session on Monday, having already discussed these issues. What would be nice is for Council to state why a vacancy on that board was not filled. Insufficient interest from members of the community? Upcoming town elections? The cost of providing professional education for these members so they are able to handle more complex land use issues (another Vision 2020 goal)? Other?
The reason this question should be answered goes beyond staff working on the Vision 2020 goals, who added a few of their own. Many objectives will need the attention of both Council and the PC -- review and revision of Zoning Code, updating the Comprehensive Plan (required by law every five years regardless), improving the water quality of Diamond Hills Park Creek, completing downtown street and sidewalk improvements, and creating a master landscaping plan.
Some of these would normally be projects one might expect a regular vendor to bid on -- but with an employee now sitting on the Planning Commission, will that be possible?
During the 2009-2010 budget preparation, money was included for stream restoration. This was relative to new federal requirements, yet now a request for proposals (RFP) includes the staff's suggested Diamond Hills project as a pilot (rather than areas recently experiencing significant flooding or erosion). Further, the RFP addenda referenced "The Vision 2020 Town Staff Work Plan" and noted it wasn't available on the town's website. It could, however, be obtained via a FOIA request with related printing charges assessed.
Between elevating a project in a sitting Council member's neighborhood, to not providing a document on the town website which obviously was created by the town and is stored in an electronic format, to dancing around "conflict of interest" issues with PC members -- Council should be responsible for explaining these points to town residents so there are no outstanding questions. They could also educate regular folk on why most town job opportunities provide applicants with more time to respond than do RFPs.