The agenda for the Tuesday meeting was full, as was the room. Two public hearings on development issues, the recess for a lengthy Planning Commission session, several citizens voicing their opinion, and a few votes kept the meeting going until 11 pm. Meanwhile, the election returns came in.
Unnecessary Wait
Kudos to Mr. Runyan, a relative newcomer to Christiansburg, who spoke to Council on behalf of his neighborhood. There is a large population of stray cats there, and he was looking for help dealing with the problem. The Council and town staff knew that's what he wanted to address; it was noted on the agenda. Mr. Runyan waited 1 hour and 45 minutes for his turn to speak, only to be politely told "The County handles that, not the Town." Good grief, couldn't the person who put Mr. Runyan on the agenda have told him to call the County? To his credit, Mayor Ballengee offered to help Mr. Runyan deal with the County if needed. That offer came rather later than it needed to.
No Such Thing as Undevelopable
One item to be dealt with was a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for a planned development by Showcase Home Builders requesting lot setbacks about half the distance required in R-1 zoning. The smaller setback was requested for all lots due to topography and maintaining a buffer with a neighboring development. This being Christiansburg, where every square foot of land should be under or near a house or condo, the CUP was granted. This despite concerns expressed by neighbors who had been battling since this property's rezoning back in 1998. Their concerns are relative to storm water runoff as the area is prone to flooding (with a boat nearly floating away a few weeks ago), and having so many homes feed out onto a single point on Depot Street.
Also Granted
The CUP for use of property on Radford Street owned by Lowell Wade was also approved for a non-conforming business use. Several conditions were attached with the hope that the project create a positive impact on surrounding properties. The exact business tenant is unknown, but is expected to be related to equipment sales, rentals and service.
Town Manager and FOIA
The last item on the agenda was the Town Manager's report, which began around 10:30 pm. This included scheduling five public hearings that had come into the pipelines. Town Manager Terpenny suggested scheduling all five hearings for June 3, 2008. You will recall that the Mayor had scheduled the Freedom of Information Act training to follow the June 3 meeting. Why do you suppose anyone would suggest having such a long meeting that night, with the FOIA training to follow this meeting?
The Mayor did remember the scheduled training, and suggested some of the public hearings could be held at a later meeting. Mr. Terpenny replied, "If that's what you want."
The Town Manager also delivered new budget materials to the Finance Committee - and to "those who requested it" - at 11 pm. Could those packets have been passed out earlier. This distribution limited time to adequately review the material. Hmmmm.... FOIA compliant, or not?
Thank You
Finally, thanks for all the support about the lawsuit. As soon as we can, we'll let you all know how you can help. Thank you for offering.