As the Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Art Center begins celebrating its 25th anniversary, the timing for the Town of Christiansburg to adopt a systemic approach to preservation and rehabilitation seems very appropriate. Such initiatives, which are also found as key points within the town's oft referenced Comprehensive Plan, will help sustain a sense of community while serving as an economic and tourism development engine.
During several public town meetings this year, both historic preservation and tourism development have been topics. Council directed its Planning Commission to research amending Chapter 30 of the Town Code (Zoning) as regards adopting a Historic District Overlay. In addition to many valid reasons for doing this being presented, an abundance of resources are available as detailed here previously. The Planning Director is now looking at having staff from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources speak with the planning commission.
The town's Comprehensive Plan has reportedly just undergone a review (as required every five years) without any changes. Under "Environmental Goals and Objectives" it includes promoting protection of historic resources as one objective. Strategies for this include (a) encourage the rehabilitation of structures that could potentially contribute to the historic character of the Town, (b) accept proffers from developers to preserve or renovate historical buildings where appropriate, and (c) accept proffers/donations of historically significant sites and structures where valid public uses for them can be found.
One could presume such a focus and encouragement would extend to more than simply being something mentioned in the Comprehensive Plan.
Another of this category's objectives is promoting the town as a destination spot for tourism activities. Strategies for this are to (a) identify and promote historic attractions in and around the Town, (b) promote appropriate and viable festivals within the Town, (c) support the creation of opportunities for entertainment attractions to draw outside interests to the Town, and (d) identify and catalogue local attractions and destination sites.
One should not presume that (a) and (d) have been addressed by the town, while (b) may be reflected in the chamber's Wilderness Trail Festival and the downtown business partners recent Cruisin' Christiansburg events. The town has also supported (through the Parks & Recreation Department) several festivals and special events of the Montgomery Museum and local Kiwanis club. And (c) seems to be addressed through the town's use of tax dollars for the construction of Harkrader Sports Complex and the Aquatic Center (scheduled to open in the Spring of 2009), yet doesn't appear to be extended to cultivating such private attractions via tax incentives.
This single section of the Town's Comprehensive Plan includes another objective, that being to protect aesthetics and history. We won't even go near the "aesthetics" piece of this objective, however the strategies include (a) considering provision of signs to identify Historic Districts within the Town, (b) continue projects such as the Downtown Enhancement Project to maintain the Town's aesthetic appeal, and (c) cooperate with the New River Valley Arts Council. In a recent report to town council on the Tourism Development Council's (TDC) regionally funded initiatives, each council member was presented with a program summary for tourism development, which emphasized signage.
Last year, town council supported a resolution for an "antiques corridor" through the downtown and Cambria districts, and the year before they listened to a presentation by local businesses and VA Logos on signage -- but no action has been taken which would align efforts to a strategy council adopted years ago. With (b), one could hope the first project could be fully realized before moving to projects (plural). Another delay of this now multi-phased project -- meaning higher actual costs when this moves forward again -- was mentioned during recent budget hearings. The downtown project was initially a comprehensive, community designed concept drawn up in 1998 and has one aspect of it just now almost complete. As to (c), there is currently no such organization known as the New River Valley Arts Council. This may have become defunct at some point, joining with any of the numerous active cultural resources and groups in the NRV region, or the Roanoke Valley's Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
We will continue to monitor the historic preservation and tourism efforts being discussed by town council, and hope it moves to definitive plans and immediate action. We'll also continue to peruse the town's Comprehensive Plan for other objectives and strategies that are aligned with these two topics that are included to provide economic development benefits, as well as improved town aesthetics.