Blacksburg Weighs Growth v. Sustainability

The dilemma of balancing local growth and sustainability sparked a debate between the five candidates running for Blacksburg Town Council Monday night.

Over 50 people attended The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County’s candidate forum held at the Blacksburg Municipal Building. Each candidate issued an opening statement before answering questions compiled by The Montgomery County League and the forum’s co-sponsors.

But the pace and tone of the forum elevated when written questions from the audience were addressed. One question asked how the candidates thought the recent rankings in Forbes magazine and CNN Money would impact the Blacksburg economy and lifestyle.

There was a bit of laughter in the room before the candidates answered.

“We can’t help but feel proud but at the same time it’s a double edged sword,” incumbent Don Langrehr said. “The town is committed to sustainability but recognition promotes growth and there is a tension between the two.”

Prior to that question, the discussion revolved mostly around the promotion of development in town regarding both new businesses and expanding residential opportunities.

Langrehr and challengers Derek S. Myers and Leslie Hager-Smith said focusing on revitalizing and developing downtown would give natural momentum to residential growth.

Hager-Smith said the former Blacksburg Middle School property could provide an ideal location for low to middle income housing while Myers said he’d like to see lofts similar to those in downtown Roanoke built in Blacksburg.

Langrehr said a grocery store and a pharmacy would go a long way in making downtown Blacksburg more livable, especially as the price of gas continues to go up and residents could walk to those stores.

Some of the enthusiasm on the idea of growth was lost after the question of sustainability in Blacksburg was raised.

“My personal feelings on being on everyone’s top 10 list… I’m heavily ambivalent,” Hager-Smith said. “We already know Blacksburg is a special place and we have to be careful what we wish for. We’re not ready for the speed of growth that may be coming.”

Hager-Smith said she witnessed first hand how this kind of publicity and rapid growth could impact a community. She lived in Seattle and Athens, Ga. and said both cities were once continuously honored and one honored as the country’s “Most Livable City”.

Not long after these honors she said both places “went down the tubes”. From Hager-Smith’s remarks came the only interruptive applause of the night, resulting in the moderator having to tell the crowd to wait until the end.

CNN Money voted Blacksburg number 43 out of the 100 best places to live as well as one of the top six technical launching pads in the country. Forbes magazine voted Blacksburg as the number 10 best small metro to start a business or career.

Blacksburg Town Manager Mark Verniel said the rankings are good to get but he doesn’t put much stock into them. He said it is a challenge to be restrictive on growth because that drives up the low cost of housing that residents of Blacksburg want to sustain.

Verniel said that one way to make housing more affordable is through greater housing density. He used an example that putting 200 units on a property instead of 50 would obviously make the housing cheaper--although he said higher density proposals often cause resistance from existing neighborhoods.

“[With growth] there are definitely some positives and negatives,” Verniel said. “The typical fear people have when new housing is being built is that the value of their property will go down, but that’s usually not the case.”

Langrehr and Hager-Smith said better communication and more specific guidelines for developers need to be implemented in order for Blacksburg to grow at the rate its residents desire. Langrehr said providing developers with density bonuses would be an effective tool of influence.

“It’s like dangling a carrot instead of using a stick,” Langrehr said. “We don’t want to become a boom town where it was once a great place to live but then isn’t because it becomes so hard to get around and so expensive to live. Just look at Charlottesville or Chapel Hill.”

The forum focused on this issue of balancing sustainability and growth as each candidate answered a question regarding their vision of Blacksburg in the next eight years. Although each answer was unique, all of the candidates agreed on affordable housing and smart growth.

The forum will rebroadcast on WTOB every Wednesday and Sunday at 3 p.m. as well as on Fridays at 8 p.m. between April 16 and May 4. The election for Blacksburg Town Council is held on May 6.